Spl forces JCO killed during J&K encounter

A junior commissioned officer (JCO) of the special forces was killed in action and three soldiers were injured on Sunday, two of them critically, in the Kishtwar district of Jammu & Kashmir, when they engaged a group of terrorists who had kidnapped and killed two defence guards (VDGs) three days ago, officers aware of the matter said.

- Ravi Krishnan Khajuria

Thursday's killings triggered a massive operation combing by security forces in the Kuntwara and Keshwan areas of the Jammu region. Commandos of the special forces had been on a trail to pin down the terrorists, who are believed to be three to four in number, officers said.

"The special forces were on their trail since Thursday and a gunfight broke out on Sunday morning around 11 am in the Gidri Top area, near Chas, of Kishtwar. A JCO was killed in the encounter and three soldiers were injured," said an officer aware of the development, asking not to be named.

The deceased officer was identified as Naib Subedar Rakesh Kumar, of 2 Parachute Regiment (special forces), who hailed from Himachal Pradesh. An intelligence officer said that the terrorists managed to escape from the spot following the ambush. "Critically injured soldiers were later airlifted in an army helicopter to Command Hospital in Udhampur," he said, adding that additional reinforcements were also airdropped in the area.

Security forces on Friday recovered the bodies of the two VDGs a day after they were abducted and shot dead by terrorists in Kishtwar amid protests, shutdown, and outrage over the killings. On Thursday morning, 45-year-old Nazir Ahmad and 33-year-old Kuldeep Kumar, both residents of OhliKuntwara village, took their cattle to graze in the Munzla Dhar forest. They did not return till late evening, prompting a joint search operation by the army, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and the state police.

Amid the frantic search, Kashmir Tigers, an offshoot of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), said that it had abducted and killed the two men.