Majid Jahangir
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, December 4

A soldier of the Army’s elite counter-insurgency unit and two unidentified militants were killed in a firefight in north Kashmir’s frontier Kupwara district on Friday. The slain soldier has been identified as Naik Satish Kumar of Bhiwani, Haryana.
The firefight broke out in the Bawan Rajwar forest area in Handwara, nearly 90 km from here, after a joint party of the Army and the police were combing the thick forest area after information about the presence of four or five Lashkar-e-Toiba militants.
A search operation was jointly launched by 21 Rashtriya Rifles Battalion, Special Operations Group of the J&K Police and elite para commandos to track the group which had been on the run in the forest for the past nearly two weeks.
“As the combing was going on, militants this afternoon opened fire, which was retaliated by the forces. In the ensuing gunfight, two unidentified militants were killed and two soldiers of 21 Rashtriya Rifles were injured. One of the injured soldiers later succumbed to his injuries,” a police officer said.
Defence spokesman Col NN Joshi said: “The firefight has stopped, but the combing operation is underway. We have recovered two AK rifles, one under barrel grenade launcher, two radio sets and other war-like stores from the encounter site.”
Sources said the same group of militants had a brief contact with security forces on the evening of November 21 in the same area. The militants at that time, however, managed to escape. Today’s combing was an extension of the operation that was launched on November 21.
The firefight in Handwara forests comes at a time when a massive search operation continues in the adjoining Manigam forest of Kupwara for the past three weeks. In the Manigam operation, Commanding Officer of 21 Rashtriya Rifles Col Santosh Mahadik was killed and the second in Command of 160 Territorial Army Lt Col K S Natt was critically wounded and is battling for his life in a Delhi hospital.

Combing operation
A search operation was jointly launched by 21 Rashtriya Rifles Battalion, Special Operations Group of the J&K Police and elite para commandos to track the militant group which had been on the run in the Handwara forest for the past nearly two weeks.The firefight in Handwara forests comes at a time when a massive search operation continues in the adjoining Manigam forest of Kupwara for the past three weeks. In the Manigam operation, Commanding Officer of 21 Rashtriya Rifles Col Santosh Mahadik was killed