Image Credit: ANI (Pampore)
Two bodies of soldiers in the Indian army have been recovered 48 hours after contact with terrorists from the Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir following a counter-terrorist operation that saw 9 casualties in total. The Indian army had launched a fierce gun battle with suspected terrorists hiding in the heavily forested areas on Thursday.
This is the highest number of casualties reported recently due to counter-terrorist operations in the territory. The deceased have been identified as junior commissioned officer (JCO) Ajay Singh Rautela and soldier Harendra Singh.
Security forces fighting terrorists in the Valley claimed a major success in gunning down Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Umer Mushtaq Khanday, counted among the 10 most-wanted terrorists in J&K, along with an aide at Drangal Pampore in Pulwama. Militant activity has spiked in the Union Territory with a string of militant attacks on civilians earlier this month, including a school principal and teacher gunned down in school at the heart of Srinagar. Two civilians were killed in a suspected terrorist attack on Saturday.