The battalion's second-in-command S P S Chaudhary, Inspector Indrajeetsingh and Constable Viranji who had been on temporary duty in Kupwara fell to enemy bullets.

According to highly placed sources here, Chaudhary was commanding one of the three parties which had kept night-long vigil on the militants hiding in the Kupwara jungles. Sighting stray fire in the direction of the jungles on Sunday morning, Jawan Viranji and Inspector Indrajeetsingh went to investigate. Both of them were instantly killed by a barrage of bullets.

Chaudhary immediately opened fire, killing a militant. Meanwhile, another militant armed with a telescopic gun hit him in the mouth. But the valiant Chaudhary fought till his last breath, killing the second militant too.

Before breathing his last, however, the injured militant identified himself as an Afghan and revealed that his group comprised 50 Afghans and Sudanese. Later, the body of another militant was also recovered.

Ironically, while Chaudhary was engaged in a battle with the infiltrators, his wife and children studying in the high school here were returning to Bhuj after a vacation in their hometown of Haryana. The newly introduced Delhi-Gandhidham train had barely covered one or two stations after Delhi when the sad news was conveyed to them. Discontinuing their journey, the family returned to their native place to perform the soldier's last rites.

According to his colleagues here, Chaudhary was very popular with his jawans. ``I cannot imagine Chaudhary saab is no more,'' a senior officer, who used to see him passing through his residence daily, said in a voice choked with emotion. He said this was the first casualty from here.