A total of five Indian soldiers from Elite Para-SF have been killed during the extraordinary fight with local freedom fighters which is a massive setback for the para commandos, India’s elite commando unit. The encounter took place in the Keran sector on Sunday. Since intermittent exchange of fire between Indian soldiers and the freedom fighters had already taken place since 2 April, the location of mujahidins had already been zeroed down to Zurhama forest area. In the early hours of Sunday, the commandos started following the footprints of freedom fighters. Their one of the groups could not recognize that they were on a cornice. As the soldiers stepped on it, it broke and three of them including Kumar, the squad leader, fell into a frozen nallah. The other soldiers who had managed to evade the fall jumped in and opened the fire on the freedom fighters. Within seconds, the area lit up with gun flashes. While three of the commandos were killed during the encounter, two others died as they were being airlifted to a military hospital. The Army launched a massive rescue operation, but the weather and dense terrain proved a major hindrance. Notably, different teams of the Para are stationed near the LoC and are brought in for special operations, or to fight against mujahidins.