Death toll of securitymen rises to seven.
Indian army soldiers climb up the stairs of a residential building outside the Indian air force base in Pathankot during operation to flush out terrorists (Photo: PTI)
New Delhi/Chandigarh: Security forces received a fresh jolt on Sunday when they discovered the presence of two more terrorists who fired at them during combing operations at the Pathankot airbase.
Four terrorists had been killed on Saturday and not five as reported.
Combing efforts were still on in the operation by security forces that has lasted two days with fresh explosions and gunshots in the airbase on Sunday, even as security forces are confident of neutralising the rem-aining two terrorists.
But tragedy struck on Sunday morning when a National Security Guard (NSG) officer Lt. Col. Niranjan E.K. was killed by an explosive which he was reportedly trying to defuse, in what has officially been described as an “accident”.
Four other NSG personnel sustained injuries. In all, five DSC personnel and one IAF “Garud” commando we-re killed in Saturday’s encounter with the Pakistani terrorists who attacked the Pathankot airbase which is close to the border. With the death of the NSG officer on Sunday, the death toll of Indian defence personnel now stands at seven.
Lt. Col. Niranjan, a member of NSG's Bomb Disposal Squad, was killed while trying to retrieve a live grenade from the body of a dead terrorist at the scene of the terror attack. Authorities said that a Defence Security Corps personnel killed a militant in a hand-to-hand combat on Saturday before falling victim to bullets of the militants.
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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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