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Journalism of Courage
The Hafruda forests and the snowy reaches of Shamshabari are a world removed from Nariman House but this was where Lance Naik Anil Kumar of 1 Para,who while on deputation with the NSG had taken on the 26/11 terrorists,fell to militant bullets last Sunday while battling Lashkar infiltrators in Kupwara.
A seasoned paratrooper,Anil Kumar had returned home to a heros welcome in Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh after the Mumbai operation. He was the commando with a medium machine gun when the NSG stormed Nariman House. He was a hero, an officer of the 1 Para told ‘The Indian Express’.
Returning from the NSG to his special forces unit,Kumar took a months leave to spend time with his family. After that,he joined his unit in Kupwara. Last week,when the orders came to stop the Lashkar infiltrators,Kumar was among the soldiers who accompanied Major Mohit Sharma as they set out to comb the Hafruda forests.
This small group of para commandos came under heavy fire from militants hiding in the heights. Anil Kumar was among the four who went down in the firefight the other three were Major Sharma,Sanjay Singh and Nikhar Singh. The 1 Para continued to engage the militants and gunbattles raged for five days. Eight Armymen,17 militants died in the operation.
Combing operations are still on and a militant,suspected to be part of the same group of infiltrators,was killed today after he was tracked down to a house in Hachmarg. It is suspected that at least seven other militants,part of the same group,are still at large.
