Army officer killed in an encounter with terrorists in J&K's Doda district

An Indian Army Officer, Captain Deepak Singh from the 48 Rashtriya Rifles was killed on Wednesday during an ongoing encounter with a group of four terrorists in the Assar Area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda dictrict. A civilian was also injured in the encounter, and an operation is underway to capture the terrorists, one of whom was wounded.


The White Knight Corps offered their deepest condolences on the demise of Captain Deepak Singh and said it stands firm with the bereaved family in the hour of grief. “All Ranks of #WhiteKnightCorps salute the supreme #sacrifice of #Braveheart Capt Deepak Singh who succumbed to his injuries," posted the White Knight Corps in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Singh was leading the charge at Shivgarh Dhar in Assar in Doda, during which he was critically injured and was shifted to a military hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries. An encounter between security forces and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur district began on Tuesday evening around 6 pm, but was temporarily halted before resuming on Wednesday morning. Overnight, a cordon was established to contain the militants, setting the stage for a joint security team to launch a cordon-and-search operation (CASO) in the forested Shivgarh-Assar belt. As the operation unfolded, a intense gunfight erupted, targeting the terrorists who had been hiding in the area.

The terrorists who were holed up in a riverine in Assar, crossed into Doda from a forest near Patnitop in adjacent Udhampur district after a brief exchange of fire with the security forces. The security forces managed to recover a US made M4 assault rifle and three blood-soaked rucksacks from the encounter site.


The latest terror attack comes just a day ahead of the 78th Independence Day and as Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh convened a meeting to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir on the rising terror related incidents. Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi, Director General of Military Operations-Lieutenant General Pratik Sharma and many other heads of the security related agencies attended the meeting.


Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has expressed her sorrow over Captain Singh's death. "No words will suffice to express the tragedy at Doda today where Captain Deepak Singh was killed during an encounter. The endless cycle of violence and mayhem in J&K continues to devour the lives of innocents despite tall claims of normalcy by the administration. My deepest condolences to his family.", said Mufti in a post on X.

Terrorist activities have surged in the Jammu region in recent months, with a series of deadly encounters. On August 10, two soldiers and a civilian were killed in a gunfight with terrorists in Anantnag district. Last month, one soldier was killed and another injured in an encounter in Kupwara district, just a day after Kargil Vijay Diwas. In September last year, a Commanding Officer, a Major, and a Deputy Superintendent of Police were killed by terrorists in the same area. In response, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had chaired a high-level meeting to assess the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, directing the full deployment of the armed forces' counter-terror capabilities to combat the escalating threat.​