Cop, Army Jawan Killed in J&K Encounter; 3 JeM Militants Shot Dead

Three JeM militants was also gunned down in the encounter, officials said.

Photo of DSP Aman Thakur.

(Photo: PTI/Altered by The Quint)

A deputy superintendent of police, an army jawan and three Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists were killed in an encounter in Kulgam district of south Kashmir on Sunday, 24 February, officials said.

On Monday, news agency ANI quoted police records to report that two of the terrorists - namely, Waleed & Numan were top commanders of the JeM and were active in South Kashmir. Arms and ammunition including rifles were recovered from the site of encounter. All these materials have been taken in the case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other terror cases, ANI reported.

The encounter took place in the Turigam area of Kulgam after the police got an intelligence input about the presence of a group of terrorists in the area, PTI quoted the officials as saying.

The approaching police party was fired upon, in which Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Aman Thakur got seriously injured in the neck. The officer succumbed to his injuries when he was being flown to the army hospital, the officials said.

Who Was DSP Aman Thakur?

A 2011-batch J&K Police Services officer and a resident of Jammu’s Doda district, Thakur was leading the police team in the encounter.

Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh said:

“It is an unfortunate incident, in which we have lost a brave officer. He was a fighter and he led Sunday’s operation himself.”

Thakur was posted as the DySP (Operation) in south Kashmir’s Kulgam two years ago. He had successfully carried out anti-terror operations in the area.

He was awarded the DGP's Commendation Medal and Certificate for his exemplary service last month.

(With inputs from ANI and PTI)