J&K: Captain killed in action, terrorist injured in ongoing Doda encounter
Bloodstains, M4 carbine found at encounter site; police suspect three to four terrorists holed up in riverine area
An army officer, Captain Deepak Singh of 48 Rashtriya Rifles (RR), was killed in action during an encounter with heavily armed terrorists at Shivgarh Dhar near Akar forest in Doda district’s Assar area on Wednesday.
Security officials said Captain Deepak was leading the charge when he was fatally hit by a volley of fire by the terrorists, suspected to be three to four, hiding in the forest.
Earlier, White Knight Corps posted on X: “Op Assar: Update. Search for the terrorists continues amid heavy firefight. One officer has been injured while leading the search party. War-like stores have been recovered as operations continue.”
Captain Deepak was evacuated to a hospital, where he succumbed to injuries.
A terrorist was injured during an encounter with security forces at Shivgarh Dhar area late on Tuesday. A US-made M4 carbine and ammunition were recovered from the encounter site on Wednesday morning.
Doda senior superintendent of police Javed Iqbal said, “The operation is on. We have found bloodstains at the encounter site. We suspect three to four terrorists are holed up in the riverine area.” The security forces found three abandoned backpacks with incriminating material at the site.
The contact with the terrorists was established at 7.12pm on Tuesday but the joint operation of the army and police had to be suspended for the night.
The security forces suspect that this is the same group of terrorists with which they had a brief face-off in Akar forest of Patnitop because the ridge leads to Shivgarh Dhar in Assar.
Jammu region has been rattled by terror attacks since June 9, the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet took charge for the third term at the Centre.
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) recently informed the Lok Sabha that 28 people, including civilians and security personnel, have been killed in 11 terror-related incidents and 24 counter-terror operations so far this year.