Jammu: Less than a fortnight before his sister`s marriage, a Sena Medal awardee led the troops to track down two Delhi High Court blast accused but fell prey to militants` bullets on the night of May 2.
"Gallantry award winner Sepoy Noor Hussain could not see the marriage of his sister in remote Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir. His sister`s marriage had been fixed for 15th May", a senior army official said.
Acting on a tip off provided by Hussain about the presence of two hardcore terrorists identified as Shaqir Hussain alias Chhota Hafiz and Amir Ali Kamal alias Akram in Palmar area of Kishtwar district, troops of 17 Rashtriya Rifles and police launched a joint search operation and cordoned off the area on May 2, he said.
The militants fired on the operation party, which retaliated resulting in an encounter during which Hussain died on the spot hit by the ultras` bullets, the official said.
Hussain, survived by his wife and four daughters besides parents, a brother and four sisters, was enrolled in the 159 Infantry Battalion (Territorial Army) (Home and Hearth) DOGRA on 14 January, 2004.
After undergoing basic military training, he was deployed in Kishtwar district to assist the Rashtriya Rifles in conducting counter-terrorist operations.
Hussain, hailing from a poor family in village Palmar Rakna, a remote area of the Palamau district, had killed two top commanders of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen -- Mohd Ashraf Bhatt alias Gaznavi and Jaffar Hussain alias Abid alias Jaffar in an encounter at Tainar Forest of Chhatru in the district on October 27, 2007.
He was awarded the Sena Medal (Gallantry) on August 15, 2008 for that act of bravery and meticulous planning.
Hussain had also served in the UN Mission in Lebanon with 2 DOGRA regiment during 2008-2009, the official added.
PTI
