Army officer killed in Doda gunbattle
Defence minister Rajnath Singh chaired a high-level security meeting after an Indian Army captain and a terrorist were killed in an encounter in Doda, J&K.
An Indian Army captain and a terrorist were killed in an ongoing encounter in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Wednesday -- the latest in a wave of gunfights that have roiled the region this year and sparked concerns that it is emerging as the new epicentre of violence in the restive Union territory. In New Delhi, defence minister Rajnath Singh chaired a high-level meeting on the security situation in J&K, which is gearing up to hold its first assembly elections since 2014, amid a rise in terror strikes.
The encounter in Doda first began around 6pm on Tuesday in Akar forest area in Udhampur district. A cordon was thrown around the jungle, and operations were suspended for the night, officials aware of the matter said. The terrorists crossed into Shivgarh Dhar in Assar of Doda,five km away, and the gunfight resumed on Wednesday morning. Twenty-five-year-old Captain Deepak Singh of the 48 Rashtriya Rifles, a unit specialising in counterterror operations, was injured in the gunfight and later succumbed to injuries.
“All Ranks of White Knight Corps salute the supreme sacrifice of Braveheart Capt Deepak Singh who succumbed to his injuries,” the Nagrota-based White Knight Corps said in a post on X.
Captain Singh was leading his men during the operation when he was hit by a volley of bullets in the chest, officials tracking the encounter said in Jammu. “Despite being critically injured, he kept instructing his team till he was evacuated to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries,” one of them said.
He graduated from the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun on June 13, 2020 and was commissioned into the Corps of Signals, said officers who knew him. He hailed from Dehradun and was unmarried. He was posted to 48 RR in February 2024. Though he was with the unit for just six months, the officer was popular among the troops because of his professionalism, dedication and leadership qualities, the people said.
Security forces recovered three blood-soaked backpacks, an AK-47 rifle, and a US-made M-4 carbine from the encounter site.
“One of the terrorists was injured during the encounter. It appears that the terrorists abandoned some of their weapons and ammunition to flee with their injured colleague to escape the security forces,” a police officer said on condition of anonymity.
The army later confirmed that one of the terrorists was shot dead in the encounter.
“One terrorist has been neutralised in the ongoing operation. One AK 47 has been recovered in addition to the M4 rifle. Intermittent firing continues as the operations are ongoing,” the White Corps said in another post. Officials said that “three-four” terrorists were holed up in the area.
Wednesday’s gunfight is the fourth major encounter in the forests of Doda in the past two months, resulting in the deaths of five personnel. This year, 13 security personnel and 11 civilians have died in separate extremist attacks in Jammu, with security forces gunning down six terrorists in the region. In Kashmir, five personnel and seven civilians have died in terror attacks this year. Security forces have killed 21 terrorists in the Valley in the same period.
As security forces continued to battle terrorists on the eve of Independence Day, the country’s political and defence brass took stock of the security apparatus. In the Capital, the defence minister, National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval, army chief General Upendra Dwivedi and other top government and intelligence officials went into a huddle to assess the worrying developments, especially in areas to the south of the Pir Panjal range, plan the next move, and devise a strategy to take on the well-trained terrorists backed by Pakistan, officials familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named.
“The spike in terrorist activity and the loss of lives of security personnel is a cause for concern. Steps need to be taken to address this situation,” said one of the officials cited above.
The security forces and police have initiated a massive search operation in the upper reaches of the Doda, Kathua, and Udhampur districts in the past few months to track down the terrorists who are believed to have infiltrated from across the border and managed to reach the dense forests to revive militancy in the Jammu region.
The developments have raised questions over key operational and intelligence challenges facing the armed forces south of the Pir Panjal range, where terrorists have opened a new front.
The Doda encounter comes against the backdrop of heightened political activity in the run up to the J&K assembly polls, which are likely to be held by the end of September. On Friday, the Election Commission concluded its two-day visit to J&K to take stock of preparedness for the elections. During the visit, the chief election commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar and election commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and SS Sandhu held deliberations with political leaders and defence personnel, with a focus on the security situation in J&K.
Political leaders across the party lines called for an end to violence as they paid tribute to Captain Singh.
“Another young Army officer lays down his life in the line of duty, this time in an encounter in Doda. It is highly unfortunate that the situation in some parts of Jammu region has been allowed to deteriorate like this,” former J&K CM and National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah said in a post on X.
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said the encounter exposed the administration’s claims of normalcy.
“The endless cycle of violence and mayhem in J&K continues to devour the lives of innocents despite tall claims of normalcy by the administration. My deepest condolences to his family,” she said in a post on X.
The Doda gunfight broke out days after chief of defence staff General Anil Chauhan said that the proxy war waged by Pakistan in J&K was one of the main security challenges confronting India.
On July 26, when the country marked the 25th anniversary of victory in the Kargil war, Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a strong warning to Pakistan, saying that the Indian Army will crush terror emanating from that country with full force.
On Tuesday, Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General M V Suchindra Kumar visited forward locations of the counter-insurgency Delta force in Doda and Kishtwar to review the anti-terror operations in the Chenab valley region of J&K.