Tripura bids tearful adieu to soldier killed in Jammu

Thousands of villagers on Friday bid a tearful adieu to an Indian Army soldier, Chittaranjan Debbarma, who was killed in a terror attack on an army camp near Jammu on Tuesday.

Men, women and children had assembled in huge numbers at the cemetary when Debbarma's last rites were performed at Gaishing Para, 80 km north of Agartala.

Naik Debbarma, 36, a Christian by faith, was laid to rest with full military honours in the presence of his father Madhusudhan, 84, mother Sanchani, 79, wife Namita and two children aged 11 and 7 years.

State Forest Minister Naresh Jamatia, and senior civil, army and security officials were present.

The body of the soldier was flown to Tripura on Thursday -- two days after he and six of his colleagues were killed in a gun battle with militants at an army camp in Nagrota, 15 km from Jammu.

Debbarma joined the army's engineering wing in 1998. A few months ago, he was transferred to Nagrota military base from West Bengal's Kanchrapara.

"He called us when the terrorist attacked the military camp. He told us to pray for him. He was saying that he might be killed as the militants encircled the camp. After a minute, the phone went silent. We called back many a time but...," slain soldier's wife Namita said.

"He came home in June this year and told us that he would come home next month. We were keenly waiting for him. But got only his mortal remains."

Debbarma's elder brother Arun retired from the army in March this year.

He is the second Tripura man in services killed in a militant attack in Jammu and Kashmir within a week.

Earlier, 34-year-old Border Security Force (BSF) Havildar Sambhu Satmura was killed in a landmine blast along the India-Pakistan border in Poonch district on November 22.

--IANS

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