A young Army Captain, who was decorated with the Sena Medal for gallantry on Republic Day yesterday, was killed in a fierce firefight with ULFA militants in Tinsukia district of Upper Assam today.

In the encounter inside the Mechaki reserve forest, 27-year-old Captain S K Choudhary of the 7/11 GR (Gorkha Rifles) led from the front. He was shot in the chest by the militants, two of whom were killed by the Captain and his men.

In fact, Choudhary was awarded the Sena medal for the bravery he showed last year when, in a similar encounter with the ULFA, he had killed two militants.

The Captain was to marry his fiancee next month. At her home, they were celebrating the announcement of the gallantry medal when news came in that Chaudhary had been killed.

Son of an Army officer — his father is a Lt Colonel posted at the Army Air Defence records office in Nashik — the Captain had already applied for leave and was due to head to Kathua (Jammu) shortly for his wedding. In fact, his Commanding Officer’s wife had spoken to his fiancee this morning to congratulate her.

A spokesman of the Army’s IV Corps Hqs at Tezpur said the firefight took place around 12.30 pm. He said Captain Choudhary succumbed to injuries while being taken to the hospital. His body will be flown to Kathua tomorrow.

“A combined group of Army and police personnel had proceeded to village Barpathar under Kakopathar police station in Tinsukia district at around 11.30 am today on receipt of specific information that four to five ULFA militants, including a senior leader, were hiding in a house there. But even as the security forces closed in, the militants took shelter in the dense Mechaki reserve forest following which the two sides engaged in a gunbattle,” the spokesman said.