Jammu: One Army officer was killed in action and one terrorist was neutralised while three other militants are believed to have been gunned down in an ongoing encounter in the higher reaches of the Shivgarh-Assar belt in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday. One AK 47 has been recovered in addition to an M4 rifle.
Captain Deepak Singh from the 48 Rashtriya Rifles succumbed to injuries received during the ongoing operation in the district, Army's White Knight Corps said in a solemn post on its official X handle.
"All Ranks of White Knight Corps salute the supreme sacrifice of Braveheart Capt Deepak Singh who succumbed to his injuries. White Knight Corps offers deepest condolences and stands firm with the bereaved family in this hour of grief," it said.
The slain officer was injured while leading a search party during the operation that began on Tuesday in the Assar area and is still in progress, officials said. The young captain was critically injured and shifted to a military hospital where he breathed his last, they said. Four blood-soaked rucksacks were recovered from the site, leading officials to believe that four terrorists were killed, PTI reported.
The Army also confirmed the killing of one terrorist in the operation.
“One terrorist has been neutralised in the ongoing operation. One AK 47 has been recovered in addition to the M4 rifle. Intermittent exchange of firing continues as the operations are ongoing,” the White Knight Corps said in the latest post on X.
A civilian was also injured in the encounter that broke out a day ahead of Independence Day and is the latest in a series of incidents in the Jammu region that has witnessed a spike in violence. Bullets rang out in a thickly forested area during a cordon and search operation (CASO) launched by a joint team to track down a group of foreign terrorists hiding in the Shivgarh-Assar belt, officials said.