Army colonel killed by militants in Kupwara

A Colonel of Army’s elite Para Commando force was today killed while another security personnel sustained serious injuries during an operation near the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara district of Kashmir.

Northern Command chief Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda expressed deep condolences on the loss of a “brave officer” and said, “We owe a deep debt of gratitude to officers like Santosh who lead from the front and are willing to pay the ultimate price in the fight against terrorism”. One soldier of the territorial army was also injured in the operation. “As they were combing the forest area at around 1 pm, the hiding militants opened indiscriminate fire, critically wounding the Army officer and a policeman”, sources said.

It was a big jolt to the Indian Army when a colonel of the Rashtriya Rifles was martyred on Tuesday while leading a fierce encounter with a group of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Pertinently, the group according to sources had managed to give slip to troops on Friday evening before injuring two soldiers at Payerpati forest area in Manigah.

Wednesday afternoon, the group was again intercepted by the Para-troopers and army’s 41 RR in the forest area.

All the injured were immediately evacuated to military hospital here in Srinagar for specialized treatment, they said.

Preliminary reports suggest that the colonel was hit by incoming fire from hiding militants in Manigah area of Haihama in the frontier district, 90 km from Srinagar.