An Army jawan and a special police officer (SPO) of J&k police on Tuesday sacrificed their lives during a fierce gunfight with terrorists in snow clad Khrew area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
Till the time of filing the report, the security forces had not confirmed whether any terrorists were neutralised or they managed to gave a slip to the security forces during the encounter.
Soon after the operation was launched, after receiving a tip off about the presence of three terrorists in the area, joint teams of security forces had cordoned off Zand village of Tral.
While searches were going on in the area, first contact was established with the terrorists.
To avoid any collateral damage the security forces even escorted children and others from the area.
In the initial exchange of fire an Army jawan and SPO received bullet injuries. According to official sources, “SPO of the J&K police died on the spot while Army jawan succumbed to his fatal injuries in the hospital”.
Initially, twitter handle of the Kashmir zone police posted a tweet, “Encounter has started at Awantipora. Police & security forces are on the job. Further details shall follow”. Thereafter, no update was posted till late evening nor any press statement was issued by the police media centre confirming killing of terrorists in the encounter.
Meanwhile, Twitter handle of the Udhampur based Northern command headquarters, paid rich tributes to the martyred solider who sacrificed his life in the Pulwama encounter on Tuesday.
“Lt- Gen Ranbir Singh, Army Cdr NC and all ranks salute the supreme sacrifice of Sepoy Rahul Rainswal; offer deepest condolences to the family”, tweeted Northern Command.
This is the second major encounter which took place in Kashmir valley ahead of Republic day celebrations in the last 48 hours.
On Monday, joint teams of security forces killed three terrorists including top commander of Hizbul Mujahideen Waseem Ahmad Wani along with Adil Bashir Sheikh in Shopian.
According to police records, Waseem was involved in the killing of eight people, including four security men in the Valley while Adil had decamped with 7 AK 47 rifles and a pistol from the residence of former PDP MLA from Wachi Assembly segment.