Army Colonel, Major, JKP’s Dy SP Himayu killed in Anantnag encounter

Srinagar: 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 said that acting on a specific input about the presence of militants 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 militants 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 said 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 militants. “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 militants don’t flee.
The 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 the encounter in Kokernag area of Anantnag 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.