An Army soldier made the supreme sacrifice today during a fierce gunfight with terrorists in the Udhampur district of the Jammu division.
The White Knight Corps has identified the martyred soldier as Lance Dafadar Baldev Chand.
“GOC White Knight Corps and all ranks pay solemn tribute to Lance Dafadar Baldev Chand, who made the supreme sacrifice during an ongoing operation at Kanji, Udhampur. We stand with the bereaved family in this hour of grief”, the Army said in a post on X.
The encounter broke out last evening in the Basantgarh area of Udhampur – a mountainous tri-junction connecting Udhampur, Doda, and Kathua districts.
The White Knight Corps of the Indian Army said that “In an intelligence-based operation in the general area of Kishtwar, alert troops of White Knight Corps established contact with terrorists at around 8 pm on 19 September. Exchange of fire took place”.
A joint search team of the Army, CRPF and Special Operations Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir Police came under heavy fire from the 3 to 4 hiding terrorists in the Seoj Dhar forest border in the Dudu-Basantgarh area of Udhampur and Bhaderwah in Doda, the officials said.
This area has witnessed frequent face-offs between terrorists and security forces.
Reinforcements equipped with drones and sniffer dogs were rushed from both Udhampur and Doda and a massive search operation was underway when last reports were received, officials said.