The Army has retrieved the bodies of the two soldiers, including a junior commissioned officer (JCO), who went missing during an encounter with militants in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district on Thursday evening.
The bodies were recovered two days after the Army launched a major combing operation in the area.
“GOC, White Knight Corps and all ranks salute the braveheart Subedar Ajay Singh and Naik Harendra Singh, who made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty on 14 October at Poonch during a search operation and offer deep condolences to the family,” said 16 Corps, Indian Army.
On Thursday, two army personnel were killed in the exchange of fire with the militants in a forested area in the district’s Mendhar sub-division.
Riflemen Vikram Singh Negi (26), who also hails from Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district’s Sankari village and Yogambar Singh (27), a resident of Viman village in Tehri Garhwal district of the state were killed in the encounter.
Earlier on October 12, five army personnel, including a JCO, were killed in an encounter in Dera Ki Gali in the Surankote area of Poonch district.
Amid a rise in incidents of civilian killings in Jammu and Kashmir, the security forces have killed 13 militants in the union territory in nine encounters over the last nine days, the police said on Saturday.
“13 terrorists were killed in nine encounters after civilian killings. We have neutralised three out of five terrorists of Srinagar City within less than 24 hours,” (SIC) said Kashmir IGP Vijay Kumar.
