E-Paper
NIA to investigate Kokernag encounter
Jammu and Kashmir had registered a case and a Union home ministry notification has directed the NIA to take up the probe
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken up the investigation of Kokernag encounter case, in which four security personnel, including three officers, and two terrorists were killed in September.
Jammu and Kashmir had registered a case and a Union home ministry notification has directed the NIA to take up the probe. An officer of NIA confirmed the development.
A total of two terrorists, including Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Uzair Khan, were neutralised in the seven-day encounter in Garole forests
On September 12, the army and the police had launched a joint operation after receiving intelligence about terrorist movement and a likely hideout in the forested area. The operation involved special forces and counterterrorism specialists of police.
The army’s losses included two officers and a jawan, and a deputy superintendent of Jammu and Kashmir was also killed in the operation.
Colonel Manpreet Singh, the commanding officer of 19 Rashtriya Rifles, Major Aashish Dhonchak from the same battalion, DSP Humayun Muzamil Bhat and sepoy Pardeep Singh lost their lives during the operation.
This is the second terrorism-related case in Kashmir being handed over to NIA in December. Earlier, the NIA was handed over the killing of inspector Masroor Ahmad Wani, who succumbed to his injuries in All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, 40 day after he was attacked outside his house while playing cricket on October 29.
