This year till date 24 men in uniform have been killed in different militancy related incidents across Jammu and Kashmir.

  The figure doesn’t include the suicides and a fratricidal incident that killed two CRPF personnel Constable Siju and Constable Jala Vijay inside Dal Lake in March this year.

   Government Forces suffered no casualty in the month of March.

   As per the data available with Kashmir News Trust, among the 24 casualties, 15 are soldiers, 5 are troopers and 4 are policemen. In January 3 soldiers and a policemen were killed while in February, a soldier and a trooper died. March was casualty free while in April 5 soldiers, 2 policemen and 4 CRPF personnel were killed.

  In the first week of the current month, 6 soldiers have lost their lives.              

    Two army soldiers Naik Sawant Sandip Raghunath of Maharashtra and Rifleman Arjun Thapa Magar of Nepal were killed in Khari Taharat forest area of Rajouri and an army soldier Rahul Rainswal and SOG man Shahbaz Chowdary of Manjkot Rajouri were killed in an encounter at Zantral Khrew area of Pulwama. A trooper Ramesh Ranjan killed in HMT shootout.

Five soldiers Subedar Sanjeev Kumar of Himachal Pradesh, Haveldar Davendar Singh of Utrakhand, Para-trooper Bal Krishan of Himachal Pradesh, Para-trooper Amit Kumar of Utrakhand and Chattarpal Singh of Rajhstan were killed in Keran Sector of Kupwara, while militants in April shot dead a CRPF man Shive Lal at Goriwan Bijbehara.

   A police man Basit Iqbal was killed while another cop was injured after suspected militants attacked them in Dachen Kishtwar. Three CRPF personnel Head Constable Rajiv Sharma of Vaishali Bihar, CB Bhakaree of Maharashtra and Parmar Satya Pal Singh of Gujurat were killed in Sopore Adhab Bab Crossing attack.

    Militants also shot dead a cop Manzoor Ahmed Dar in Hillar Kokarnag in the month of April.

   Two soldiers Havaldar Gokharan and Nayak Shankar Kumar were killed in Pakistan shelling at Choranda area of Uri along Line of Control in Baramulla. A soldier was also killed in cross LoC firing in Pooch district of Jammu.

    And recently, in Handwara, Changmohalla forest, 5 men in uniform were killed. They include Colonel Aushotosh of 21 RR, Major Anuj Sood, Nayak Rajesh, Lance Nayak Dinesh and Sub Inspector of SOG, Sageer Qazi Pathan.

  Pertinently, as against the killing of 24 forces personnel, 65 militants have been neutralized as on date this year. (KNT)