Soldier succumbs, toll rises to 4
Fayaz Bukhari
Jammu, Sept 15: Additional Director General of Police, Vijay Kumar, today said that 2-3 militants are trapped in Kokernag forests and the operation would continue till they are neutralised.
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Kumar asked the retired police and Army officers to avoid putting across the ambush hypothesis. “Rtd Police/Army officers should avoid “Ambush Hypothesis”. It is a specific input based ops. Ops is in progress and all 2-3 trapped terrorists will be neutralised,” ADGP said.
In the meantime, the encounter at Gadool forest area of Kokernag in Anantnag district today entered the third day with security forces using grenades and RPGs against the militants while a soldier who was critically injured in the initial firefight two days ago succumbed today.
A drone image of the area shows huge explosions of RPGs fired by the troops on what seems to be the militant hideout. The hideout has been completely destroyed in the attack. It also shows a person, possibly the militant running away and security forces firing heavily on him. It is not clear whether he has been killed or not.
An official said that intermittent firing took place throughout the day and the operation was put on a halt this evening.
He said that the security forces fired grenades, rocket propelled grenades, shells and bullets towards the suspected spots suggested by the drones. The official said that all new generation weapons and devices are being used to locate hiding terrorists.
The official said that civilians living close to the area have been already evacuated to safer places and drones including herons have been pressed into action to find and neutralize the militants.
“There is no confirmation whether any militant has been killed so far given the tough terrain and forest area,” he said.
During the initial exchange of fire Colonel Manpreet Singh, who was the Commanding Officer of 19 RR, Major Aashish Dhonchak and DySP Humayun Bhat, the son of former DIG Kashmir Ghulam Muhammad Bhat were martyred. One more solider who was admitted to Base Hospital in Srinagar succumbed today.
On Thursday, the operation continued in which two soldiers received injuries who were shifted to hospital for treatment.
The Kokernag encounter is the biggest since August 5 this year in South Kashmir when three soldiers of army’s 34 RR were killed in Halan Manzgam forest area of Kulgam district. On March 30, 2020, five security personnel-including a Colonel, a Major and a sub-inspector were killed in an 18-hour long encounter at north Kashmir’s Handwara.
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