Commander of Elite Indian Unit Dies in Kashmir Shootout

Adeel Shah
2015.11.17
151117-kashmirofficer-620 Indian soldiers carry Col. Santosh Mahadik after he was gravely injured during a gunfight with suspected militants in the Manigah forest area of Kupwara district, in northern Kashmir, Nov. 17, 2015.
AFP

The commanding officer of the Indian Army’s elite 41 Rashtriya Rifles in Kashmir was killed Tuesday in a gunfight with militants in a forest in the restive northern region, military and police officials said.

Col. Santosh Mahadik was leading a battle in the Manigah forest area of Kupwara district, when he was mortally wounded by enemy gunfire, a senior police officer in the region told BenarNews.

“The army officer was among the two who got injured today. They were airlifted to Srinagar for treatment, where the officer succumbed,” the officer said.

Mahadik was helping lead a joint police and army operation, which began on Nov. 13 and was aimed at flushing suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants from their hideouts in the forest, the Hindustan Times reported. According to the newspaper, the militants fled deeper into the forest as troops and policemen chased them, leading to Tuesday’s gunfight that claimed the life of 37-year-old Mahadik, a 17-year Army veteran who commanded 1,000 soldiers in his Kashmir-stationed unit. A constable from a special operations police unit was also injured in the shootout, said the senior officer.

Altogether four members of the joint force have been injured since Tuesday’s gun battle broke out, another senior police officer in the region, Aijaz Bhat, told BenarNews.

Army officials, meanwhile, issued statements praising Mahadik, a married father of two young children, for his valor.

“The colonel was a true soldier and had conducted many successful counter terrorist operations,” said Lt. Col. NN Joshi, the army’s spokesman in Srinagar. “The officer was earlier awarded a medal for exhibiting gallantry and leadership in counter terrorist operations.”

“We owe a deep debt of gratitude to officers like Santosh who lead from the front and are willing to pay the ultimate price in the fight against terrorism,” said Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda, who commands the army in the state of Jammu & Kashmir.

The killing of the senior army officer came less than three weeks after Indian forces killed Abdul Rehman (also known as Abu Qasim), an alleged top commander of the banned LeT during a shootout in Kulgam, a district in south Kashmir.

The Kashmir part of the state is predominantly Muslim and has been caught in a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947. A separatist insurgency has raged there for decades, and the LeT is one of the region’s main militant groups.

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