By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, Oct 31:
Two Indian Armymen were killed and another soldier was badly injured, in a land mine blast close to line of control, during an area domination patrol in Naushera-Sunderbani Sector of Rajouri district of Jamm and Kashmir on Saturday.
The injured soldier was evacuated and was admitted to the Army Hospital, where he is under treatment.
“The deceased Lieutenant Rishi Kumar and Sepoy Manjit Singh were brave and extremely committed to the profession of soldiering and have made the supreme sacrifice for the nation in the line of active duty. Lieutenant Rishi Kumar was a resident of Begusarai in Bihar and Sepoy Manjit Singh was a resident of Sirvewala, Bhatinda, Punjab. The nation and Indian Army shall forever remain indebted to the brave hearts for their supreme sacrifice,” the Defence spokesperson said.
The Naushera sector comes under the Rajouri district which is part of the Pirpanjal region in Jammu where an army operation has been going on for the last three weeks. According to reports, the blast occurred at Kalal forward area where a militant was killed in an encounter on July 8 during an infiltration bid.
Rajouri and Poonch area has witnessed repeated infiltration attempts in the last three months though most of such attempts were foiled by the security forces. The Army has launched an operation in the area to track the militants. This is the longest counter-terror operation in the region in the last 18 years.
The army men killed so far: October 11, Monday, Poonch sector- Naib Subedar Jaswinder Singh, Naik Mandeep Singh, Sepoy Gajjan Singh(all from Punjab), Sepoy Saraj Singh (Uttar Pradesh), and Sepoy Vaisakh H(Kerala). October 14, Thursday, Poonch :Vikram Singh Negi (26) and Yogambar Singh (27).October 16, Saturday, Nar Khas forest in Mendhar, Poonch sector: Subedar Ajay Singh and Naik Harendra Singh. October 30, Saturday, Naushera-Sunderbani Sector of Rajouri district: Lieutenant Rishi Kumar and Sepoy Manjit Singh.
Two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists were killed in an encounter with security forces in the Thanamandi belt on August 6, while a JCO Subedar Ram Singh was killed on August 19, Thursday at Thanamandi area of Rajouri district.
