(Top) Soldiers leave the encounter site. (Above) Feet of suspected militants who were gunned down. (AP, Reuters)

Srinagar, Oct. 3: Major Dinesh Raghu Raman was days away from becoming a proud father. And come October-end, Major K.P. Vinay would no longer have been a carefree bachelor.

The 30-year-old, who had even distributed the wedding invites among his colleagues, remained single till his last breath before a hail of bullets thudded into his head and chest in Kashmir’s bloodiest gunfight this year.

His comrade-in-arms Raman also fell in the marathon encounter that started yesterday morning in the woods near a Baramulla village and claimed nine militants, believed to be from the Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Raman, in his early thirties, who braved heavy gunfire to rescue an injured Vinay, died at the base hospital in Srinagar today.

“Both of them were brave chaps,” said 34 Rashtriya Rifles commanding officer Colonel Harjinder Singh.

“Major Raman’s wife arrived recently from London to deliver the baby, but he didn’t live to see the child. Vinay was getting married in October and was proceeding on leave this week. He even gave me an invitation card and asked me to join the celebrations in Hyderabad.”

Army sources said troops had cordoned off Ringwari, a hamlet in the Tangmarg area of north Kashmir, last night following inputs that a militant group had crossed the Line of Control through the adjoining Gulmarg sector.

Brigadier Kuldeep Singh said a small team was sent to the spot as the militant strength was initially not known. The soldiers asked the rebels, believed to be hiding in the village, to surrender, triggering the gun battle that left the two officers and the nine militants dead.

“We believe they are from the Lashkar-e-Toiba,” Brigadier Singh said.

The injured soldiers were airlifted to the army’s 92 Base hospital in Srinagar.

“The exchange of fire has stopped, soldiers are now searching the area,” army spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel A.K. Mathur said.

Several houses in Ringwari suffered extensive damage after being pounded with mortars.

Earlier, village headmen were sent by the army to negotiate a surrender but the militants refused. Army sources said the 38-hour encounter was the deadliest this year.

A police spokesperson said a huge cache of arms and ammunition, including nine AK assault rifles and six wireless sets, were seized from the slain militants.

In August, a colonel and eight militants were killed in a fierce gun battle in Baramulla’s Uri sector.

In Hyderabad, Vinay’s hometown, his father K.R. Prabhakar, mother Jayanti and elder brother Vikram were in shock. Before the news of his death came in, the family had been busy preparing for the October 29 wedding in Bangalore.

Family sources said the body of the 1994-batch NDA cadet will be brought to Hyderabad tomorrow. The major will be cremated with full military honours on Friday, the sources added.