Two Indian Air Force commandos martyred & 2 militants killed in Bandipora encounter

Two Indian Air Force commandos, part of a joint security team, and two militants were killed in a gunfight in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Wednesday morning.

It is a rare loss for the IAF in the Valley as it is not involved in day-to-day anti-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir.

The two men were from IAF’s elite unit the Garud Commando Force. They were training with the army for operational experience, army spokesman Rajesh Kalia said.

The gunfight started when a joint patrol of the army, police and Garud commandos cordoned off an area in Hajin Bandipora after being alerted about the presence of militants, sources said.

The militants opened fire early in the morning, injuring the two men who later died of their wounds.

He identified the deceased commandos as Cpl Neelesh Nayan and Sgt Milind Khabar

Kalia said the gunfight was intense. “Two terrorists were killed and two air force Garud paras were martyred in the action,” he said.

They were identified as Abu Bakr @Ali Baba and Nasrullah Mir, son of Nazir Ahmad Mir, resident of Hajin. Both belonged to Lashkar-e-Toiba militant outfit, he said.

The firing had stopped and search operations were on, local sources said.

The security forces have stepped up the offensive in the Valley with the government hardening its stand against militants after violent street protests and attacks on security personnel in the border state.

The Garud force, tasked with guarding air force bases, trained in fight terrorists and insurgents and in search and rescue, origins lie in Jammu and Kashmir.

The need for a dedicated force was felt when militants attacked two air bases in Jammu and Kashmir in 2001. The first batch of Garuds was unveiled on February 6, 2004. It was Garud force that led the operation to flush out militants from Pathankot air base in January 2016.