Srinagar: Army on Sunday said that five security men including a colonel and a major besides a police officer were killed after they “successfully extricated civilians held hostage by militants” in Chanjimullah Rajwar area of Handwara in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.
“Based on the intelligence input that militants were taking the civilian inmates of a house in Changimul, Handwara of Kupwara district hostage, a joint operation was launched by Army and JK Police on 02 May 2020,” army’s Srinagar based spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia in a statement issued here said.
A team comprising of five Army and JK Police personnel entered the target area occupied by the militants to evacuate the civilians, the spokesman said.
“The team of Army and JK Police entered the target area, and successfully extricated the civilians. However, during the process, the team was subjected to heavy volume of fire by the militants,” the spokesman said.
In the ensuing fire fight, two militants were eliminated and the team of five Security Forces Personnel comprising of two Army officers, two Army soldiers and one JK Police Sub Inspector attained martyrdom in the service to the Nation,” the spokesman added.