Ten persons, including a senior army officer and a trooper, were killed during a three-day gun battle on the Line of Control near the border town of Uri in north Kashmir.
Defence spokesman Lt Col. A.K. Mathur said in Srinagar on Thursday, "In an act of bravery Col Vasanth V, the Commanding Officer of 9 Maratha Light Infantry and Lance Naik, Bachhan Shashikant Ganpat, achieved martyrdom while fighting with hard core Afghan terrorists who had infiltrated across the LOC in the morning of July 30, 2007 in Uri Sector.
"Information of large concentration of terrorists in PoK, waiting on the Pakistan side of the LOC, was received by the Army in Kashmir. This was given to Col Vasanth V whose battalion was deployed in inhospitable terrain. A fierce fire fight started during which Col Vasanth, along with his Radio Operator Lance Naik Bachhan Shashikant Ganpath, led his troops from the front, slowly moving forward towards the terrorists.
"The engagement was exhausting and went through the entire day and night of July 30. Outflanking the terrorist position, Col Vasanth started engaging the terrorist position with accurate fire. Col Vasanth personally
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brought down one terrorist but was himself injured when another group of terrorists opened fire on him. Regardless of his injuries and fire that was coming from two sides on his position, Col Vasanth kept engaging the terrorists and gradually moved forward. His radio operator was then injured while trying to transmit a message for more of reinforcements.
"On closing in with the group, which had two terrorists left, he charged the position bringing down one terrorist. Meanwhile, the second terrorist fired a burst, which brought down Col Vasanth. In a last action before loosing consciousness, Col Vasanth fired at the terrorist and killed him."
The spokesman said this was a major infiltration attempt by heavily-armed militants to enter Kashmir and army soldiers had foiled it by not only killing all the intruders but also by the supreme sacrifice of Col Vasant and Lance Naik Bachhan Shashikant Ganpanth.
Huge cache of arms and ammunitions were recovered from the slain militants. The recovery included 8 AK-47, 16 AK Magazines, 345 rounds of AK-47, 3 hand grenades, 1 radio set, 1 GPS, 1 medical kit, burnt Pakistani and Indian currency and maps.
