2 IAF commandos slain in encounter

Srinagar/New Delhi: The Indian Air Force lost two “Garud” commandos in a firefight with militants in Jammu and Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Wednesday. This was the first hit suffered by the Garuds in the Kashmir militancy. The two Garuds — Sergeant Milind Kishor and Corporal Nilesh Kumar — were on “live situational training” when they were killed in a fierce encounter in the Hajin area of Bandipora. Two militants, including a Pakistani national, were also killed.

Kishor hailed from Sakri town in Maharashtra’s Nashik while Kumar came from Udhadih in Bihar’s Bhagalpur.

“Live situational training” involves “on the job” training with the Garuds learning to combat militants in a real-life scenario, a concept that germinated in the aftermath of the Pathankot airbase attack in January 2016, after four heavily-armed Pakistan-trained terrorists infiltrated into the high-security airbase that is home to high-value IAF assets.

Army and police officials said a joint party of the Army’s 13 Rashtriya Rifles and J&K police’s counter-insurgency Special Operations Group laid siege to Paribal Rakh area of Hajin, about 40 km from Srinagar, after a tipoff about the presence of at least six Lashkar-e-Tayyaba militants holding a meeting in the area.

Sergeant Milind Kishor

“They (militants) were asked to stop and surrender but they opened fire and lobbed a grenade, in which one Garud commando achieved martyrdom on the spot and another was seriously injured.Later he too succumbed,” the statement said. Two AK rifles, one pistol with 19 rounds of ammunition, one grenade, two pouches and other ammunition were seized from the encounter site.

The Army said in a statement that “befitting” tributes were paid to the two IAF martyrs at a wreath-laying ceremony at Srinagar’s Badami Bagh cantonment, home of the 15 (Chinar) Corps. “In this hour of grief, the Army stands in solidarity with the bereaved families of the martyrs and remains committed to their dignity and well-being”, the statement added.

On Sunday, Air Force Day, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa had said over 6,000 airmen were trained to respond to Pathankot-like incidents in future. The slain commandos were part of two squads comprising 28 Garuds, led by two officers, that were attached to the Rashtriya Rifles, a specialised anti-militancy force of Army personnel drawn from various regiments raised to combat militancy in the Kashmir Valley. They were part of the first Garud squad to be attached with the Rashtriya Rifles unit in August after they underwent a two-week pre-induction training.

Corporal Nilesh Kumar

The slain militants have been identified as Abu Bakr alias Ali Baba, a Pakistani national, and Nasarullah Mir, a resident of Hajin. The others, according to a report, managed to escape the security dragnet.

“Both the slain terrorists were involved in many attacks, including the one on BSF jawan Muhammad Ramzan inside his home at Hajin while on leave last month,” the police said. The BSF jawan who was attacked with knives and then fired upon indiscriminately was killed on the spot, whereas his father, two elder brothers and paternal aunt were injured in the terror attack.

The area saw intense clashes between surging crowds and the security forces after the killing of militants. Witnesses said irate mobs hurled rocks and missiles on security personnel after the authorities refused to hand over the corpse of the foreign militant to them for burial. The police fired dozens of teargas canisters to disperse the stone-hurling mobs, they said. Hundreds of people attended the funeral of the local militant, the reports said.

The clash took place on a day when J&K governor N.N. Vohra met home minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi to discuss with him various issues, particularly the security situation in the state.