Special forces launch fierce assault against encircled' militants in Anantnag

SRINAGAR: The special forces of the Indian Army’s Mountain Division trained for high-altitude warfare and their airborne counterparts from its Parachute Regiment on Thursday joined other security forces already on ground to launch a fierce assault against a group of heavy armed militants holed up in a forested area of Jammu and Kashmir’s southern Anantnag district.

The militants had on Wednesday killed two Army officers Colonel Manpreet Singh, Commanding Officer of the Army’s 19 Rashtriya Rifles (12 Sikh Light Infantry) and Major Ashish Kumar and deputy superintendent of the J&K police Humayun Bhat and injured a couple of more security personnel in an ambush in Gadool hamlet of the Kokernag area of Anantnag.

As the operation against the militants was resumed with the fight light on Thursday, the Army and J&K police officials here said that two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants including Uzair Khan have been “encircled” and that efforts are underway to “eliminate” them. J&K police wrote on ‘X’, “In solemn tribute to the unwavering valour of Col Manpreet Singh, Major Ashish Dhonak & DSP Humayun Bhat, who laid down their lives leading from the front during this ongoing operation. Our forces persist with unwavering resolve as they encircle 2 LET terrorists including Uzair Khan."

The sources said that the security forces are using drones and helicopters besides the latest weaponry and other equipment to track down the militants who are reported to have frequently changed locations even as the officials claimed that “contact” with them has been reestablished.

Apart from the Army, the J&K police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) are conducting the operation and “making an all-out effort to deny any opportunity to the terrorists to escape from the area,” the sources said.

The J&K police and Army had said on Wednesday that Colonel Singh, Major Ashish and DSP Bhat police were grievously injured in the initial exchange of fire between the militants and the security forces at Gadool. They were quickly airlifted to the Army’s 92-Base Hospital in Srinagar where they succumbed.

The officials had said that the gunfight erupted after a joint team of the J&K police, Army and CRPF launched a cordon-and-search-operation on specific information about the presence of militants in the village. A defence spokesman had said, “Colonel Singh, leading his team from the front, attacked the terrorists. However, the terrorists fired upon him and he was critically injured”.

The incident followed a similar clash between militants and security forces in the Narla area of frontier Rajouri district in which two militants have been killed whereas Rifleman Ravi Kumar of the 63 Rashtriya Rifles, a resident of Wasnoti Trigam village of J&K's eastern Kishtwar district, laid down his life. Three other security personnel including SPO Vishal Singh were injured in the encounter. A six-year-old female Labrador from 21 Army Dog Unit, named Kent, was also killed while saving his handlers during the "effective operation".