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‘Service before Self’: Army praises 5 security personnel killed in Handwara encounter
4 army personnel and 1 police officer were martyred in Kashmir on Sunday morning.
The five security force personnel killed during an operation in Jammu and Kashmir’s Handwara displayed supreme sacrifice while fighting and eliminating terrorists, the Indian Army said on Sunday as it paid its tribute and condoled their deaths.
Colonel Ashutosh Sharma, the commanding officer of the army’s 21 Rashtriya Rifles battalion, Major Anuj Sood, Naik Rajesh Kumar and Lance Naik Dinesh Singh and sub-inspector Shakeel Qazi of the Jammu and Kashmir police were killed after the more than 12-hours of a firefight with terrorists in Handwara district.
In a series of tweets, with messages from the Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and the army chief Gen MM Naravane, the force said Handwara operation highlighted the “determination of the security forces to safeguard the lives of the people”.
“This operation exemplified true tradition and strong determination of the #SecurityForces to safeguard the lives of own citizens,” it said.
The army had a special mention for Col Sharma, who was in charge of his men and had been locked in a gunfight with the terrorists holed up inside a house in Rajwar forests in Changimulla area of Handwara.
Col Sharma, who is survived by his wife and a 12-year-old daughter, had served in the Kashmir valley for a long time and twice awarded the Sena Medal for gallantry.
“Commanding Officer leading from the front along with other personnel of the unit and J&K Police have laid down their lives, living upto the motto; Service Before Self (soc),” the army said in a tweet.
“The #ArmedForces are proud of their courage as they have successfully eliminated the terrorists. We salute these brave personnel and express our deep felt condolences for the bereaved families (sic),” it added.
Two terrorists were also killed in the encounter that began around 3:30pm on Saturday after they took hostages inside the house.
