First major Ops since March 2020; Additional troops rushed in to the spot, Ops underway; LG Sinha, CS, DGP, ADGP, Div Com, all rank SSPs participate in wreath laying ceremony of slain DySP at Sgr; Pall of gloom at Budgam’s Humhama as body of police officer reaches home, Top police officials participate in funeral of slain officer
Jahangeer Ganaie
In a major encounter, two army officers and a police officer were killed at Hallora area of Gadool hamlet in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Wednesday.
An official told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), that acting on a specific input about the presence of terrorists in Haloora area of Gadool hamlet of Anantnag, joint teams of army and police launched a cordon and search operation in the area in the afternoon.
“When the joint teams zeroed in on the suspected spot, the hiding terrorists opened a heavy volume of fire resulting in the fatal injuries to two army officers and the police officer,” they said.
Two army officers and the police officer of the DySP rank succumbed to injuries who were identified as Colonel Manpreet Singh, who was the commanding officer of 19 RR, Major Aashish Dhonchak and DySP Humayun Bhat, the son of former DIG Kashnir Ghulam Muhammad Bhat, originally from Tral, presently living at Humhama, Budgam.
General officer Commanding of Srinagar based 15 Corps Lt General Rajiv Ghai, DGP Dilbagh Singh, ADGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar and other officers reached the encounter spot to assess the situation.
Officials told KNO that additional troops were sent to the encounter spot and the entire forest area of Gadool has been cordoned off in a bid to track down the terrorists. “Search operation is going on and helicopters have also been press into service,” they said, adding that given dark, high beam lights have been installed and all the layers of cordon have been tightened to ensure terrorist don’t flee.
Today’s encounter at Anantnag 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. Pertinently, 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. Sources said today’s encounter is the biggest since 2020 where the army and police have lost its senior officers. The Anantnag encounter comes at a time when forces are having the upper hand and the number of local militants is all time low as stated by the Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh.
LG, DG, ADGP, others participate in wreath laying in Sgr: A wreath laying ceremony was held in Srinagar where Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, DGP Dilbagh Singh, ADGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar, SSP Srinagar Rakesh Bhalwal besides a number of police, army and CRPF officials participated and paid rich tributes to slain DySP Humayun Bhat. The officers laid wreaths on the coffin draped with tri-colour. Emotional scenes were witnessed when slain DySP’s father, the former DIG Ghulam Hassain Bhat, also paid floral tributes to his slain son and offered him the last salute.
Pall of Gloom in Budgam’s Humhama: Almost every eye was moist with tears when the body of slain DySP Humayun Bhat reached his home at Friends Enclave Humhama in Budgam district on Wednesday evening. Women were seen wailing and shrieks filled the air as the coffin came out of the ambulance. DGP DilbaghSingh, ADGP Kashmir VijayKumar, DG CID R Swain, SSP Srinagar Rakesh Bhalwal, SSP Budgam besides other officers of the police participated in the funeral of slain DySP. Hundreds of locals also participated in the last rites of DySP Humayun
