All three soldiers of the Indian Army martyred in the 32 hours long encounter with Pakistani terrorists in the forest area of Halmatpura in North Kashmir’s Kupwara district have been identified.
According to Colonel Rajesh Kalia, Srinagar based spokesman of the Army, the martyred soldiers are, Jorabar Singh (160 TA) of village Rait in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, Naik Mohammad Ashraf Rather of village Reshigund in Kupwara (J&K) and Naik Ranjit Khalkho of village Dudhakhuti in Ranchi district of Jharkhand.
Five security personnel, including three Army jawans, were killed in the encounter on Wednesday. Among the killed were two men of the Special Operation Group (SOG) of the J&K Police.
One more terrorist was killed raising the number of neutralised militants to five. The killed terrorists were Pakistani nationals.
The five security personnel were injured when the operation against terrorists was resumed this morning but they succumbed to their wounds in the hospital.
Floral tributes to SOG constable
Rich tributes were paid to SOG constable Deepak Thusso at the wreath laying ceremony at the Srinagar police lines on Thursday. Inspector General of Police SP Pani led the Police and Security forces in laying the floral tributes on his mortal remains.
IG CRPF Zulfkar Hassan, DIG (Central Kashmir Range) VK Birdi, DIG SSB R K Bhumal, SSP Srinagar Imtiyaz Ismail and other officers of Police and Security forces and Jawans were present at the ceremony.
On Wednesday, five unidentified terrorists were killed when the encounter broke out. Bodies of the killed terrorists have been retrieved but their identity could not be established and they are believed to be Pakistanis.
It is believed that the group of terrorists had recently infiltrated through the Line of Control (LOC) and were trapped by the security forces in the forest area of Halmatpura. The encounter started yesterday when contact was established by the Army soldiers with the terrorists hiding in the forest.