Srinagar: A Colonel of Army's elite Para Commando force was today killed while another security personnel sustained serious injuries during an operation near the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara district of Kashmir.
The Commanding Officer of 41 Rashtriya Rifles Colonel Santosh Mahadik, who was leading a search party, was critically injured when militants hiding in a dense forest area of Haji Naka opened fire, the officials said.
Santosh, who was from the elite regiment of Para Commandos, was evacuated to a hospital but he succumbed to injuries, the officials said.
The injured include a police official of the Special Operations group in Jammu and Kashmir police. He was identified as Majloon Ahmad.
The operation to track down the militants was continuing when last reports were received, the officials said.
The party of army and police came under fire when it was conducting searches as part of an operation started on November 13 to flush out terrorists hiding in the forest area on the basis of a specific information.
An Army jawan was injured on the first day of the operation.
Army and police personnel were carrying out searches as part of an operation that started on November 13 to flush out terrorists. The militants, suspected to be from Lashkar-e-Taiba, fled deep into the forests and the security forces continued the chase them, leading to fresh contact today, the officials said.
