An elite para commando of the Indian army was martyred in the counter-terrorist operation launched in the general area of Bhart Ridge, Kishtwar to flush out terrorists behind the killing of two members of the Village Defence Groups (VDG). Three other critically injured soldiers were airlifted from Kishtwar to a military hospital for advanced treatment. The operation was still in progress at the time .
The Army identified the brave heart as Naib Subedar Rakesh Kumar of 2 Para and saluted his supreme sacrifice. The Army’s Jammu-based White Knight Corps said in a post on X, “Based on specific intelligence input regarding the presence of terrorists, a joint operation was launched by security forces in general area Bhart Ridge, Kishtwar. This is the same group which had abducted and killed 02 (two) innocent villagers (village defence guards). Contact was established and a firefight ensued.”
According to ground reports, the encounter took place a few kilometres from the spot where the bullet-riddled bodies of VDGs Nazir Ahmad and Kuldeep Kumar were found on Friday.
In Kashmir, the residents living in the vicinity of the Zabarwan forest area woke up to the gunshots of heavy firing between a group of terrorists and the security forces. The highly fortified area remained under siege as reinforcements were rushed to plug the escape routes.
According to police, the gunbattle broke out around nine am in the forest area connecting Dachigam and the upper reaches of the Nishat area, a famous tourist destination. This is the third incident of terrorist violence in Srinagar since November 1. The gunfight which started early Sunday morning reportedly stopped in the afternoon. The terrorists are believed to have fled from the dense forest area.
Since November 1, eight terrorists have been eliminated by the security forces in six anti-terrorist operations in different parts of Kashmir valley. A foreign terrorist was killed during an encounter with security forces in the Rajpora area on the outskirts of Sopore in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Saturday.
A total number of four encounters have been reported in north Kashmir in the last four days which resulted in the killing of five terrorists.
Two foreign terrorists were killed by security forces during an encounter in the Sagipora area of Sopore on Friday while two local terrorists were killed in Shangus, Anantnag and a foreign LeT commander was killed in Srinagar’s Khanyar area on November 2.
A foreign terrorist was killed in Bandipora forests earlier this week while another terrorist was killed during an encounter in Lolab forest.
