New Delhi, Nov 21: Army today said it had used "extreme restraint" in smoking out holed up mercernaries from the BSNL Complex near its Corp headquarters in Srinagar as use of weapons like rocket launchers and flame throwers could have led to a mini holocaust in populated residential area. "As our commanders practice leading from the front, it had led to heavier casualties" Major General Deepak Summenwar told newsmen as he clarified that only one officer major Navneet Vats had succumbed to bullet injuries and that the commanding officer of the 22 Rashtriya Rifles Col Pc Roy and his second in command, who were injured in the operation, are in hospital.
Summerwar said that the commanding officer and his deputy had been injured when they were crawling in night to various pickets set up to cordon the house in which the terrorists had taken shelter.
He said the officers to avoid collateral damage to heavily populated nearby areas were personally supervising the operation from the front.
He said in the nearly three day hold out, one army officer, a CRPF jawan and a BSNL employee held hostage had been killed and six others including three officers and three jawans were injured.
The general said while Col Roy was still in serious condition in the hospital, all others including Lt Col Raghu Nair and Major J P Singh and three jawans were out of danger.
Bureau Report