Army pays tribute to JCO Rakesh Kumar killed in Kishtwar encounter

JAMMU: Army on Monday laid wreaths on the mortal remains of a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) who laid down his life in a gunfight with the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district.

Naib Subedar Rakesh Kumar of the Army’s 2 Para, was killed and three more soldiers were injured in the gunfight on Sunday.

The encounter broke out when joint search parties of the Army and police intercepted the terrorists around 11 am in the Keshwan forest area. The exchange of fire went on for more than four hours.

Naib Subedar Rakesh Kumar laid down his life on Sunday, while three other soldiers were injured in the gunfight with terrorists in a remote forest area in Keshwan.

The operation comes amid an intensified hunt that has been underway since the recent killing of two Village Defence Guards (VDGs).

The General Officer Commanding (GoC) of the White Knight Corps, Lieutenant General Navin Sachdeva, led the wreath-laying ceremony at the IAF station in Jammu, where the Naib Subedar’s mortal remains were brought from Kishtwar.

The bugle sounded at the last post and an Army contingent presented a salute to honour the fallen soldier.

“In a solemn wreath-laying ceremony, GoC White Knight Corps laid a wreath in Jammu to pay homage to the braveheart Naib Subedar Rakesh Kumar, who made the supreme sacrifice while undertaking a counter-terrorist operation in Kishtwar,” the White Knight Corps posted on X.

The mortal remains of Naib Subedar Kumar have been airlifted by a chopper to his native place in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi.

Following deadly attacks in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch over the past three years, terror activities have expanded to six other districts in the Jammu region this year, leading to the deaths of 44 people, including 18 security personnel and 13 terrorists, security officials said. (PTI)