Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 14: An Army officer captain Deepak Singh was killed and a civilian was injured in the ongoing encounter with militants in Assar forests area of Doda in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday. One militant is suspected to have been injured in the encounter. A rifle and ammunition were seized from the encounter site.
The Army has offered its deepest condolences to Captain Singh’s family. “He suffered gunshot injuries due to firing by terrorists and was evacuated to a hospital. However, the captain succumbed to serious injuries and made a supreme sacrifice for the nation,” the Army said. “He fired at the terrorist group last night as well as this morning. In spite of gunshot wounds, he kept directing his men as long as he could,” the Army said.
An operation has been launched to capture the terrorists, one of whom has been eliminated. The militants were engaged in a firefight on Tuesday evening. Meanwhile, the search operation is continuing in the area. The encounter broke out in a thickly forested area during a cordon and search operation (CASO) launched by a joint team to track down a group of foreign terrorists hiding in the Shivgarh-Assar belt, they said. A civilian was also injured in the gun-battle that came a day ahead of Independence Day.
Four blood-soaked rucksacks were recovered from the site. M-4 carbines were also found, the officials said. The terrorists are holed up near a river in Assar, an official said. The terrorists crossed into Doda from a forest near Patnitop in adjacent Udhampur district after a brief exchange of fire between security forces and terrorists there, they said.
According to officials, security forces established contact with the terrorists around 6 p.m. in Udhampur on Tuesday. The encounter began about half an hour later and continued intermittently until both sides paused. A cordon was established overnight.
Security forces across Jammu and Kashmir have been placed on high alert ahead of Independence Day to ensure public safety. On August 10, two army soldiers were killed in another encounter. In recent months, Jammu has seen an increase in terror attacks, including an assault on an army convoy in Kathua and skirmishes in Doda and Udhampur.
The Former J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has expressed sorrow over Captain Singh’s death. “No words will suffice to express the tragedy at Doda today where Captain Deepak Singh was killed during an encounter. The endless cycle of violence and mayhem in J&K continues to devour the lives of innocents despite tall claims of normalcy by the administration. My deepest condolences to his family.”
There has been a spurt in terror activities in the Jammu region – particularly in the southern reaches of the Pir Panjal range, which contains many thick forests and steep mountains that provide cover for terrorists – in recent months, raising fears about the revival of militancy in the region.
The spectre of terrorism had long lain dormant in this area. Earlier this month the government said it was rolling out a new security matrix for Jammu and Kashmir to counter increased targeting of civilians and military personnel and camps by terrorists, including an encounter in Anantnag district on Sunday in which two soldiers died for their country.
Two civilians were also hurt in that gun battle, in which an Army patrol on a routine anti-terror operation in the forests of Kokernag was targeted. In the same area in September last year a Commanding Officer, a Major, and a Deputy Superintendent of Police were killed by terrorists.
Last month one soldier was killed in action and another injured in an encounter in Kupwara district, in which the Army said a “Pakistani intruder” was eliminated. That attack came a day after Kargil Vijay Diwas, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Army would defeat every terror challenge.
A senior official said the increased number of military casualties was the forces’ “primary concern” and this was why deployment in the area was being rationalised with specific goals in mind, including stopping cross-border infiltration, focus on human intelligence and tactical efficiency.
