Srinagar based Defence Ministry spokesman, Colonel Rajesh Kalia confirmed the martyrdom of the five security personnel with their ranks.
Top sources told IANS an Army Colonel--Commanding Officer of 21 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) battalion in the Rajwar area of Handwara tehsil, a Major, commanding a company of the same RR battalion, a Lance Naik and a rifleman in addition to an officer of the SOG of local police were martyred in the 20-hour long gunfight between holed up terrorists and the security forces in the Chanjimulla village of Handwara tehsil.
Among these martyred is Colonel Ashutosh Sharma, Commanding Officer of 21 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) battalion. Colonel had been part of several successful counter-terrorism operations during his career and was the only commanding officer to have been awarded with gallantry for the second time in row. He had received gallantry as a CO when he had saved the lives of his men by subduing a militant running towards them with a concealed grenade.
Major Anuj Sood, Naik Rajesh and Lance Naik Dinesh are among other security personnel who lost their lives in this battle.
As per the details, this operation was initially launched jointly by the RR and the SOG of local police after reports broke out that two to three terrorists were hiding in the Rajwar's densely forested area in the Handwara tehsil. Later Intels informed security forces that civilians were being held hostage inside a home in Changimulla, Handwara. A team comprising five security personnel entered the target area occupied by militants. They successfully managed to extricate the civilians. However, the team came under heavy fire by militants in the process.
The Commanding Officer of the 21 RR (Colonel), a Major, two soldiers deployed as personal guards of the commanding officer in addition to a police Sub-Inspector of the SOG and his guard, a constable, had entered the house at grave danger to their lives to rescue civilians and to eliminate the holed up terrorists.
The lone surviving security man among those who entered the house is the security guard of the SOG Sub-Inspector according to sources, but that awaits official confirmation. After the security personnel entered the house they lost radio contact with the surrounding security men triggering concern about their safety.
Top sources told IANS that radio contact between the surrounding security men and those officers who had entered the house being used as a fortified bunker by the terrorists, was lost around 2 p.m. Saturday.
Senior officers of the Army and the state police had reached the encounter site Saturday evening to supervise the operation and the final assault against the holed up terrorists while ensuring that no collateral damage was caused to the civilians and property in the area.
Para commandos of the army and other security personnel had started the final assault against the terrorists with the first light Sunday morning. The para commandos started room intervention as part of the standard operating procedure (SOP) to segregate the security personnel and the holed up terrorists inside the house. Internet services were also snapped in Handwara as part of the operation.
Two terrorists have also been killed in this encounter whose exact identity is being established. Although firing has stopped at the encounter site, but searches are going on there.