Devinder Singh Jass

Srinagar, Feb. 23: A captain and two soldiers were killed during a daylong encounter with militants in Sopore, with one official saying the army officer was captured and slain but the army insisting he died fighting.

Captain Devinder Singh Jass, paratrooper Imtiaz Ahmad Thokar and Naik Selva Kumar were from a special wing, 1 Para, that was part of an operation by the army, CRPF and the police. The encounter was on till late tonight.

“The security forces have lost three men, including an officer. The operation is still in progress,” defence spokesperson Lt Colonel J.S. Brar said.

North Kashmir police chief A.Q. Manhas said two to four militants belonging to various groups were believed to be holed up inside some houses in Sopore’s Chinkipora area, 54km from Srinagar. Sources in the police said the special army squad had to be called in after the insurgents, possibly from the Lashkar-e-Toiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, offered tough resistance.

Another police officer, however, mentioned two possibilities. “Captain Jass, who was leading his men, tried to force his way into the house where militants were present. The militants lobbed grenades, after which the army lost contact with the officer,” he said.

“Sometime later, when the army called on the officer’s (captain’s) mobile, the militants picked it up and said he had been killed. It appears the officer was overpowered by militants and later killed. But there is also a possibility that he died first and his mobile was later picked by the militants,” the police officer added. Officially, both the army and the police insisted that Jass was not taken captive and was killed fighting the militants.