An Army officer, Captain Deepak Singh of the 48 Rashtriya Rifles, was killed in a gunfight with suspected militants in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district on Wednesday. The officer was among the two persons who suffered gunshot injuries in the gunfight near the district’s Assar area. He was taken to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. A civilian from the Hirni village was also injured during the incident.
Earlier in the day, the Army’s 16 Corps said on social media that the search for the militants had continued amid heavy gunfighting. “One officer has been injured while leading the search party,” it said. “War-like stores have been recovered as operations continue.”
This incident comes amid an increase in militancy-related incidents and infiltration bids in Jammu and Kashmir since late May. On July 30, the Union home ministry told the Lok Sabha that 14 civilians and an equal number of security personnel were killed in militancy-related incidents in the Union territory this year till July 21. In comparison, 14 civilians and 30 security personnel were killed due to militancy in all of 2023. In 2018, 91 members of security forces and 55 civilians were killed in militancy-related incidents.