“He has made a supreme sacrifice. It was part of his duty and what he was trained for. He was meant to save lives,” said Brigadier Chandrakant Sood (R), father of Major Anuj Sood who was martyred in the Handwara along with four other security personnel during an encounter with two Pakistani terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba. Brigadier Sood (R) added that Major Sood had just got married few months back. “I feel sad for his wife as they just got married 3-4 months back,” he said while speaking to news agency ANI.
31-year-old Major Sood, along with four other personnel, Colonel Ashutosh Sharma, Naik Rajesh, Lance Naik Dinesh and J&K Sub-inspector Shakeel Qazi were martyred in the Handwara encounter.
Handwara encounter
On 2nd May 2020, at around 3:30 PM, an encounter started between the Forces and terrorists in Chanjumullah area of Handwara in Kupwara, North Kashmir. Towards evening, reports started pouring in that two senior Army personnel including a Colonel-rank officer and a Major were trapped in a house with two Pakistani terrorists. The senior officers soon lost contact with the team. Soon, they lost contact with the unit.
As per reports, when no radio contact could be established with the team, the unit called Colonel Sharma’s mobile phone. The call was answered by a terrorist who responded with an ‘Assalamalaikum’.
Two terrorists, including top Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Haider were killed by the security forces. The identify of other terrorist is yet to be ascertained.
