The soldiers of the Garud Special Forces played an important role in an operation led by the Indian Army in Pulwama on Saturday, in which four terrorists were killed. During the Pulwama encounter, the Special Forces officer was shot twice, but despite this, he continued to open fire on the terrorists. News agency ANI gave this information quoting its sources in the security establishment.
The Garud commandos came into limelight for a major operation four years ago when they killed eight terrorists in two major operations in 2017. Sources said that for the Pulwama operation, 55 Rashtriya Rifles of the Army, security forces including Jammu and Kashmir Police conducted a cordon and search operation in Naira village of Pulwama area at around 7 pm on Saturday.
After some time, the army was able to trace the presence of terrorists inside a house based on information received from the local people. The security forces immediately evacuated the civilians living in and around the house and ensured that they were sent to a safe distance so that no civilian was harmed.
The security forces cordoned off the house, forcing the terrorists to open fire to flee the spot. When the terrorists were trying to break the cordon under the cover of heavy firing, they came under direct fire from the Army and Garud Special Force personnel, resulting in heavy shelling from both sides. Sources said that in this action Squadron Leader Sandeep Jhanjharia of Garuda Special Force received two bullets on his chest and left hand.
Sources said that despite being injured, the Garud Force jawan kept engaging with the terrorists till the three fleeing terrorists were eliminated. It further states that when the soldiers were searching for more terrorists in the house after eliminating the three, a terrorist hiding there came out and started firing on the party of Garuda soldiers, in which Corporal Anand suffered a bullet, After which the forces also killed the fourth terrorist immediately.
To help Garuda Special Forces gain experience in actual combat, the Army Headquarters is attaching their personnel to Rashtriya Rifles units conducting counter-insurgency operations on a daily basis. In the 2017 operation at Hajin, Garud was part of the Special Forces 13 Rashtriya Rifles, while he was with the 55 Rashtriya Rifles in the encounter in Pulwama on Saturday.
