Bhubaneswar: Among the 45 CRPF troopers who have so far lost their lives in the J&K terror attack which took place Thursday, there were also two Odia jawans who have become martyrs, reports said.
The slain jawans have been identified as Prasanna Kumar Sahu of 61 Battalions of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and a resident of Shikhar village under Naugaon police limits and Manoj Kumar Behera of Ratanpur in Niali of Cuttack district.
As soon as the news of his untimely demise reached a pall of gloom descended on the village. Since Thursday evening his mother and wife has been inconsolable.
Locals indicated that Parshana had visited the village a couple of months back and that by nature he was a very jovial person. They said that he placed duty before anything else and always wanted to be in the thick of things.
The attack of yesterday which is being dubbed as the worst ever since armed insurgency started in the state in 1989 killed all 44 CRPF men who were traveling in a bus near Lethpora area of Pulwama district on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway at around 3.15 pm. Later, another person travelling in a nearby bus also succumbed.
A Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) terrorist dashed an explosive-laden SUV into the bus to kill the jawans.
In view of the attack, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has returned from Sweden. She will attend a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security at 9.15 am, say report.
PNN
