NEW DELHI: A soldier has gone missing amid the ongoing encounter between security forces and terrorists in Jammu & Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
The encounter began on Wednesday evening after a combined force of the
Army
& Jammu & Kashmir police launched an operation to hunt down terrorists in the forests surrounding Gadool village of Anantnag’s Kokernag area. The operation was carried out following a tip-off regarding presence of two to three terrorists, who were spotted and encircled in Gadool.
During the fierce gunfight with terrorists,
Col Manpreet Singh
and Maj Ashish Dhonchak of 19 Rashtriya Rifles, and
DSP Humayun Bhat
of J&K Police lost their lives on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday. The mortal remains of Major Dhonchak, a Sena Medal recipient in 2023, reached Haryana’s Panipat where the last rites will be conducted today. The last rites of DSP Bhat, who is survived by his wife and three-month-old son, were performed in Budgam on Wednesday evening.
Security forces have cordoned off the area and anti-terrorist operation is under way in Kokernag area for the third consecutive day.
The terrorists are suspected to be from The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadow group of the Pakistan-backed Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Drones and helicopters have been deployed to assist in locating and ‘neutralising’ the terrorists.
Meanwhile, TV reports suggest that fresh firing has been reported from the same encounter site.
