2 TERRORISTS ELIMINATED; five security personnel killed

LET commander Haider killed in Kashmir

SRINAGAR: Two senior army officers, including a colonel-rank officer, were among five security personnel who lost their life during an encounter with terrorists at a village in Rajwar forests of North Kashmir on Sunday.

The deceased security personnel are: Colonel Ashutosh Sharma, Major Anuj Sood, Naik Rajesh and Lance Naik Dinesh, all from the Brigade of GUARDS regiment, and at present part of the 21 Rashtriya Rifles, deployed to counter terrorism in the hinterland.

A Jammu and Kashmir Police Subinspector, Shakeel Qazi, also fell victim to the bullets of terrorists.

Two holed-up terrorists, who were eliminated in the encounter, included commander of banned Lashker-eTaiba Haider, a Pakistani national who has been active in North Kashmir area. The identity of the other was yet to be ascertained. They had held some civilians hostage, the officials said.

Director General of JK police Dilbagh Singh said, “Sad to inform that five brave personnel including Colonel Ashutosh Sharma, Major Anuj Sood and sub-inspector of JKP Shakeel Qazi were martyred in the line of duty.”

Security forces had noticed presence of some terrorists in the Rajwar forests in Handwara area for the past few days and a brief exchange of fire had taken place on Thursday deep inside the jungles.

Around Saturday afternoon, intelligence inputs indicated presence of the same group of terrorists inside a house at Changimulla village, prompting Col Sharma to launch a cordon and search operation along with his team and Qazi.

After a considerable lull, Col Sharma and four other personnel barged into a cowshed adjacent to the house, presuming that the terrorists had been eliminated in the heavy gunfire.

According to the officials, the team came under heavy fire after rescuing the civilians and all communication links with Col Sharma and his team were snapped. Calls made on the mobile numbers of the team were answered by terrorists.

PM Narendra Modi led the nation in paying tributes to the soldiers.