Army Moves Out 3 Officers After Civilian Deaths In J&K

The Indian Army moved out three officers, including a brigadier, pending a probe into the custodial deaths of three civilians who were picked by the force for questioning after the December 21 ambush in which four soldiers were killed and another three injured, officials familiar with the matter said on Monday.

- Ravi Krishnan Khajuria

"While a court of inquiry stands instituted, the army has shifted the three officers including a brigadier, a colonel and a lieutenant colonel from Poonch", the officials said.

The three civilians were among the nine people picked up by army on December 22 from Topa Peer village for questioning. The army's internal probe into the custodial deaths will be conducted at Akhnoor and various agencies will be part of it, including Jammu and Kashmir Police, the officials said.

While the army instituted a court of inquiry, the J&K Police lodged an open FIR against "unknown" men of the army -this has irked the families of the victims, who want the officers' names mentioned in the FIR.

Accessed by the HT, the FIR was lodged at Surankote police station on December 22 evening, a day after the terror ambush.