A deputy superintendent of Police (DSP) and a soldier were martyred and a Major and soldier of the Army injured on Sunday in an encounter in the Turigam village of Kulgam in South Kashmir.
Three terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit have been killed in the encounter and their identity was yet to be established. Two to three terrorists were reportedly holed up in a residential building in the village.
The killed DSP has been identified as Aman Thakur. He was leading the team of the Special Operation Group (SOG) of the J&K Police when a bullet hit his head. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared “brought dead”, said reports.
The Army soldier, Ranveer Somveir, injured during the encounter, succumbed at the military hospital, reports said. The other injured Army personnel have been rushed to the military hospital at Srinagar.
Following credible information, the security forces had, earlier in the day, launched a cordon-and-search operation in the village. The encounter broke out when the search parties of the 34 Rashtriya Rifles (RR), CRPF and SOG reached near the house where the terrorists were hiding.
Clashes broke out in the area as a large number of stone pelters and miscreants gathered there to enable terrorists to escape the cordon. Police burst teargas shells to chase away the miscreants.
DGP Dilbag Singh and the J&K Police personnel paid rich tributes to the martyred DSP Thakur. A police spokesman said that Thakur was a 2011 batch KPS officer who was leading the operation against terrorists from the front.
He was heading the counter-terrorism wing of police in the Kulgam district from the last 18 months and had played a key role in the elimination of dreaded terrorists. He belonged to the Gogla village in the Doda district of Jammu and is survived by aged parents, wife, and a six-year-old son.