Sikh Jawan Tied Turban On Bleeding Leg Of Soldier, Got Shot, Both Survive

Balraj Singh of the elite Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) and the man he saved, Sub Inspector Abhishek Pandey, are both in hospital in Raipur.

As gunfire raged around them in the deadly ambush of security forces by Maoists in Chhattisgarh on Saturday, a Sikh jawan yanked off his turban to tie it around the wound of a fellow soldier and stop the bleeding. Moments later, he was also shot. Balraj Singh of the elite Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) and the man he saved, Sub Inspector Abhishek Pandey, are both in hospital in Raipur. 22 security personnel were killed in action in a "u-shaped" attack by some 400 Maoists at the border between the Sukma and Bijapur districts. The CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) soldiers were severely outnumbered and surrounded. Balraj Singh, who was shot near his abdomen, said: "Our first-aid man was busy he was attending to the Special Task Force personnel. At that time our sub-inspector sir (Abhishek Pandey) was wounded from the splinters of a grenade. He was bleeding profusely; I took off my turban and tied it around his wound. The encounter lasted almost five hours, they used UBGL, Mortars ... many Naxals were also dead."