Army officer injured in Kashmir forest gunfight

A senior officer of the Indian Army was on Sunday seriously injured in a gunfight with separatist guerrillas in a forest area in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district, police said.

"In a continuing operation against a group of militants hiding in Wanigah forest area of Kupwara district, lieutenant Colonel S.K. Natt, second in command of the 162 battalion of the Territorial Army sustained serious injuries today (Sunday)," a police officer told IANS here.

The officer was taken to hospital for specialised treatment, and the operation against the militants has been intensified, he said.

Colonel Santosh Mahadik was killed last week in the same operation that has been continuing for nearly a fortnight now.

A group of heavily armed guerrillas are reportedly hiding in the dense Wanigah forest near the line of Control (loC) in Kupwara, after they infiltrated into the Indian side from Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The army has intensified the operation employing para-commandos and helicopters to tighten the cordon around the guerrillas after the death of Colonel Mahadik.