The Hindu : Front Page : Sena Medal awardee dies in encounter

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Monday, Jan 28, 2008
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Sena Medal awardee dies in encounter

Special Correspondent

Guwahati: A 27-year-old Army officer, awarded the President’s Sena Medal this year for gallantry, died in an encounter with United Liberation Front of Assam militants on Sunday.

However, the Quick Reaction Team (QRT) of the Gorkha Regiment he had led shot dead two ULFA militants in the deep jungles of the Mechaki Reserve forest along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border.

Captain S.K. Choudhury, who was injured in the chest, was quickly shifted in an Army chopper but succumbed to his wound in hospital. He hailed from Kathua in Jammu and joined the Army only in December 2004. His body would be flown to his residence on Monday.

The dead militants have been identified as Chandan Dohotiya and Tutu Moran of the outfit’s 28 Battalion.

The troops recovered an AK-47 assault rifle, 100 rounds of ammunition, an improvised explosive device weighing five kg, timed and ready for use and two magazines from the encounter site.

Public Relations Officer at the Army’s 4 Corps Headquarters at Tezpur, Lieutenant Colonel Rajesh Kalia told The Hindu that acting on a tip-off about the presence of four to five militants beyond Borpathar in upper Assam’s Tinsukia district, Captain Choudhury quickly moved a QRT and cordoned off the area. The operation began at 11.30 a.m. and an exchange of fire began around 12.30 p.m. after the militants shot at the troops.

A militant, shot in the leg, managed to sneak into the jungle. Combing operations were on to nab him.

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