Senior officers pay homage to five Army personnel who lost their lives in Rajouri encounter

Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], November 24: At a wreath-laying ceremony, senior Indian Army officers paid homage to five Army personnel who lost their lives during an encounter operation to flush out terrorists in the thickly forested terrain in Kalakote in the Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi, the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Northern Command at Jammu and Lieutenant General Anindya Sengupta at Poonch paid homage to these Army personnel.

The mortal remains of four fallen soldiers, Captain M V Pranjal, Captain Shubham Gupta, Lance Naik Sanjay Bisht and Paratrooper Sachin Laur were brought to Jammu.

The wreath-laying ceremony of Hav Abdul Majid, a resident of Poonch, was held in Poonch.

Five soldiers, including two Army Captains, lost their lives in the firefight carried over from Wednesday.

The encounter broke out between terrorists and a joint team of the Army and the Jammu and Kashmir Police in the Bajimaal area of Dharamsala.

While the forces suffered five casualties on its side, two terrorists, including a top LeT commander and sniper, identified as Quari, were also neutralised on Thursday.

The army informed further that it recovered large quantities of 'War Like Stores' from the encounter site.

Quari was infamous for orchestrating several attacks, including the Dangri incident, where six innocent civilians lost their lives on January 23, and the Kandi attacks in Rajouri's Poonch areas.

His elimination marks a significant blow to the revival of terrorism in these districts, according to an army official.

Meanwhile, in visuals from the wreath laying on Friday, army officers and soldiers were seen paying their last respects to their fallen comrades. (ANI)