J&K: Colonel, major and Dy SP killed in fight with militants

Srinagar: Three Army personnel, including a Colonel commanding a battalion and a Major, and a Deputy Superintendent of Jammu and Kashmir Police were killed in a gunfight with militants in the higher reaches of Kokorenag area in the valley while one soldier was missing, officials said here on Wednesday.

Colonel Manpreet Singh, Commanding Officer of 19 Rashtriya Rifles, Major Ashish Dhonack, and Deputy Superintendent Humayun Bhat were critically injured in the gunfight with terrorists that ensued in the Garol area of Anantnag district in the morning hours of Wednesday.

The officers succumbed to their injuries during the treatment, the officials said, adding a jawan also died.

The whereabouts of another soldier was not immediately known and it is feared he might have been seriously wounded. Bhat, father of a twomonth-old daughter and son of retired Inspector General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Ghulam Hasan Bhat, died due to heavy blood loss.

The banned Resistance Front, believed to be a shadow group of Pakistanbased Lashker-e-Taiba, has claimed responsibility for the attack. Officials believe that it is the same set of terrorists who had carried out the attack on army personnel on August 4 killing three jawans in the Halan forest area of Kulgam.

The operation against the terrorists began on Tuesday evening in Garol area. Colonel Singh, leading his team, attacked the terrorists. However, he was critically injured in the terrorist firing. (PTI)