New Delhi: After an intense gunbattle, a colonel, major, and two soldiers of the Indian Army along with a sub-inspector of Jammu & Kashmir Police were killed in an encounter with militants in North Kashmir’s Handwara on Sunday.
Two terrorists were also killed in the encounter that began around 3.30pm on Saturday in Chanjmulla area of Handwara.
Sources said the security forces personnel were killed after the hours-long firefight with terrorists holed up in a house.
The commanding officer of 21 Rashtriya Rifles along with four others had entered the house to evacuate the trapped people after the firing had stopped for an hour.
“Based on the intelligence input that terrorists were taking the civilian inmates of a house in Changimulla , Handwara of Kupwara district hostage, a joint operation was launch by Army and J&K Police. A team comprising of five Army and J&K Police personnel entered the target area occupied by the terrorists to evacuate the civilians. The team of Army and J&K Police entered the target area and successfully extricated the civilians,” an Indian Army official said.
However, during the process, the team was subjected to heavy volume of fire by the terrorists.
“In the ensuing fire fight two terrorists were eliminated and the team of five Army and J&K Personnel comprising of two Army officers, two Army soldiers and one J&K Police sub-inspector attained martyrdom,” the official added.
In another operation, security forces killed two militants in Pulwama district of south Kashmir.
The security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Dangerpora area of the district in the wee hours of Saturday following specific information about the presence of militants in the area, the police official said.
