US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Terrorists strike again in Kupwara, kill colonel and 2 soldiers

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

In the second major terrorist strike in northern Kashmir, the commanding officer of 4 Rashtriya Rifles and two jawans were killed this morning in an explosion at Village Kayeegam in Kupwara district.

A senior police officer told rediff.com that Colonel Balbir Singh's vehicle hit a landmine, killing him on the spot. The vehicle was extensively damaged.

The terrorists who set off the landmine were hiding nearby and opened fire on the stricken vehicle with automatic weapons. The soldiers, one of them Colonel Singh's driver, were killed in the shooting. The CO's escort vehicles returned the fire.

The colonel, the police officer said, had gone to the helipad in Kupwara to see off a top army officer who had visited the area after yesterday's attack on the Rashtriya Rifles camp at Nathnussa in the same district. He was on his way back to his 4 RR headquarters when the terrorists struck.

Messages were immediately flashed and reinforcements were rushed from adjoining areas to Kayeegam to cordon off the area.

A massive hunt is also on in the district to capture the terrorists who escaped after the Nathnussa attack. Seven terrorists were shot dead in a gun battle at Village Rafiabad in Kupwara. Two soldiers died in the encounter.

EARLIER REPORT:
Colonel killed in J&K

Tell us what you think of this report