New Delhi, Apr 14 (NDTV): The Army is battling bad weather and tough terrain as it attempts to airlift the body of Major Amit Deswal out of the thick jungles in Manipur's Tamenglong district, where the special forces officer was killed in an operation against terrorists in Wednesday.

The 35-year-old Major of the 21 Paras was shot twice on Wednesday and the Army made multiple attempts till last light yesterday to evacuate the wounded officer by helicopter out of the area. He could only be moved to a hilltop nearby, where he died late last night.

The Army is trying to fly Major Deswal's body to Leimakhong, about 30 km from capital Imphal, where a post-mortem will be held. The Major's body will then be brought to Haryana's Jhajjar, his home town.

Major Deswal is survived by his parents, his wife and a three-year-old son.

The 21 Paras had at about 3.30 am on Wednesday, launched an operation against a splinter group of Naga insurgents who are not part of a peace process with the government. They had Intelligence that the group had camped 30 km off the National Highway 36 in the heavily forested area.

At about 7 am, Major Deswal killed one terrorist and the special forces commandos seized an AK -47 gun. But the other terrorists managed to escape.

The Major and his team tracked them down again at about 4 pm in the evening about 20 km away from the highway. In the gun-battle that followed, Major Deswal was shot twice in the pelvis.

Major Deswal had won a commando dagger after topping his course. He was commissioned in 2006 in the Artillery and then volunteered for the Para Special Forces.