Uri policeman gets Shaurya Chakra

: A Jammu and Kashmir police constable has been awarded the ‘Shaurya Chakra’ posthumously for showing exemplary courage while fighting militants in the restive state, officials said.

Manzoor Ahmed Naik, who was a resident of Uri in Baramulla district, laid down his life at Haffu Nigeenpora village of Tral in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district on March 5, 2017, during a gunfight with militants.

Naik was a part of cordon and search operation in the area jointly conducted by the Jammu and Kashmir police, the Rashtriya Rifles and the CRPF.

On the day, the 33-year-old policeman, who became a father soon after he lost his life, was trying to flush out militants holed up in a house, after escaping a volley of fire in his first attempt, a home ministry official said.

In his first attempt, Naik, undeterred by blazing fire from assault rifles, crawled in the pitch dark and placed explosives around the house. As he started retreating, he came under heavy fire, but he escaped unharmed.

The explosives planted by him, though, brought down half of the house.

After a wait of two hours, when the exchange of firing stopped, Naik again volunteered to plant explosives to bring down what remained of the house. As he charged towards the house second time, he was hit by a volley of bullets from a militant.

During the encounter, two militants of Hizbul Mujahideen were killed and large quantity of arms and ammunition including 2 AK-47 Rifles were recovered from the possession of the killed militants. PTI