Kokernag encounter ends as body of terrorist Uzair Khan recovered, search ops on

Anantnag (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], September 19 (ANI): The encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district came to an end on its seventh day as the body of local terrorist Uzair Khan was recovered from the Kokernag encounter site on Tuesday.

However, police said that the search operation will continue as many areas are left to be cleared.

“The search operation will continue as many areas areas are still left…We would appeal to the public to not go there because there are many grenades there. We had the information about two-three terrorists. It’s possible that we find the third body somewhere that’s why we will complete the search operation. We found the body of the LeT Commander and retrieved it, we could also spot another body…We’re looking for the third body,” ADGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar said, speaking to reporters on Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, a soldier who had been reported missing since Wednesday was found dead, the Indian Army officials said on Monday.

According to the Army officials, Sepoy Pradeep Singh, aged 27 years, has been missing since September 13 and was found dead at around 5 pm on Monday. He was part of the Kokernag operations.

The ongoing gunfight between a combined team of security personnel from the Army and the Jammu and Kashmir Police and terrorists in the Kokernag area of the Anantnag district broke out on September 13.

According to officials, an Army Colonel commanding a Quick Response Team (QRT) of the Rashtriya Rifles, an Army Major and a Deputy Superintendent with the Jammu and Kashmir Police lost their lives during the search operations in the Anantnag operations.

The slain senior Army officers and the DSP were identified as Colonel Manpreet Singh, Major Ashish Dhonak, and Humayun Bhat.