Two army soldiers and as many SOG personnel were killed in an ongoing encounter with militants at Check Fatehkhan, Halmatpora area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.
Official sources told that four more government forces personnel—two SOG men, an army soldier and one CRPF man— were also injured. The deceased soldiers have been identified as Mohammad Ashraf Rather and Naik Ranjeet Singh of 160 battalion TA while two SOG men as Mohammad Yousuf Cheche (SPO) of Kachama, Kupwara and Deepak Pandit of Nagrota, Jammu. All of them were critically injured and taken to medical institute at the nearby army camp where all of them succumbed to injuries. Sources said that two more SOG men including Sub Inspector Harvinder Singh, army soldier and CRPF personnel were injured.
While the firefight was intermittently going on throughout the night, it intensified since morning and was going on when this report was filed. The army has claimed to have recovered three militant bodies from the encounter site. In a tweet, Director General of Police DGP also confirmed the killing of only three militants and three government forces personnel so far in the encounter. The encounter started when a group of militants believed to be seven in number fired upon a joint team of army and SOG at Check Fatehkhan forests. The army has also rushed Para commandos to the area yesterday evening.