Two jawans, five terrorists killed in fierce Kupwara encounter

Tribune News Service

Srinagar/Kupwara, February 13

Two soldiers of the Army’s elite counter-insurgency unit and five militants were killed today in a 20-hour encounter in North Kashmir’s frontier district of Kupwara. Two Army personnel, including a Major-rank officer, were injured in the gunfight in snowbound Marsarri Chowkibal, 115 km from Srinagar. 

The slain militants, attired in white, carried a snow axe and rucksacks, indicating they may have infiltrated recently, said sources.

On Friday, a joint operation was launched by the 41 Rashtriya Rifles, 16 Grenadiers, 19 Maratha Regiment and the elite 4 Para, along with the Special Operations Group of the J&K Police and the CRPF, following intelligence inputs on the presence of militants in the area. “The terrorists were entrenched in an abandoned house. The encounter continued through the night and ended this noon. Five terrorists hiding in the house were eliminated,” said Brigadier SP Singh of Trehgam Brigade, under whose command the operation was carried out. “We lost Naik Shankar Chandrabhan Shinde (34) of Nasik, Maharashtra, and gunner Maruti Sahadev (26) of Bijapur, Karnataka. Two other Army men, one of them an officer, were injured. Their condition is stable.” Shinde is survived by his wife and two children. Sahadev, who was engaged, was to go on leave in a week.