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<\/div>\nThe bodies of the officers were retrieved from the forests of the Kokernag area of Anantnag.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
New Delhi: <\/b><\/p>\n
Colonel Manpreet Singh, who was among three security personnel killed in a gunfight with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag in the early hours of Wednesday, spoke to his family members for the last time at 6:45 am that day.<\/p>\n
Colonel Singh, Major Ashish Dhonack, and Deputy Superintendent Himayun Bhat were left with serious injuries after a gun battle with terrorists in Anantnag’s Garol area on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The officers died of their injuries during treatment, according to the officials. A jawan also died, and the whereabouts of another soldier are not yet known.<\/p>\n
“We last spoke to him (Colonel Singh) at 6:45 am. He said he would speak later. He was a good man. Last year, he was awarded the Sena Medal for his duty. I salute him,” Colonel Singh’s brother-in-law Virender Gill said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 41-year-old was a commanding officer of the 19 Rashtriya Rifles.<\/p>\n
Major Ashish Dhonack, 34, is survived by his wife and two-year-old daughter who live in Haryana’s Panipat.<\/p>\n
“Last spoke to him on the telephone. He was home one and a half months ago and was supposed to return in October to shift houses,” said Major Dhonack’s uncle.<\/p>\n
Himayun Bhat, Deputy Superintendent of J&K Police, was the son of retired Inspector General of J&K Police Ghulam Hassan Bhat and died due to heavy blood loss. Mr Bhat and his wife had welcomed a son only a month ago.<\/p>\n
The bodies of the police officer and the two army officers were retrieved from the forests of the Kokernag area of Anantnag.<\/p>\n
Dilbagh Singh, Director General Of J&K Police and Lt General Rajiv Ghai, Army’s 15 Corps commander were among the top officials who rushed to the encounter site to supervise the evacuation of bodies.<\/p>\n
Acting on specific intelligence about the presence of terrorists, the army and police launched a joint operation late on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
The troops, led by the commanding officer and a deputy superintendent of Jammu and Kashmir police, came under a barrage of gunfire.<\/p>\n
The three officers were critically injured in a fierce gun battle with terrorists. Reinforcements were quickly dispatched to the scene, but the injured could not be immediately evacuated due to heavy gunfire from the well-entrenched terrorists, sources have said.<\/p>\n
Wednesday’s encounter came a day after Kent, a six-year-old female Labrador dog of the Army’s canine unit was killed and three security personnel injured in a gunfight in Rajouri. Two terrorists were killed in the earlier gunfight.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n