Indian army sees first suicide of lady officer

Lieutenant Susmita Chakraborty, 25, had asked her sentry to hand over his rifle on Thursday, saying she wanted to be photographed with it at the Northern Command headquarters near Udhampur, northeast of Jammu city.

"She was found in a pool of blood when security personnel heard a gunshot from inside the room and rushed in," a police officer told Reuters. Chakraborty had been posted to Kashmir six months ago.

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The Indian army began recruiting women 14 years ago, although no women are deployed for combat. There are 2,000 female officers now compared to 40,000 male officers in a force of 1.1 million troops.

Army officers said they were unaware of the reasons behind the suicide, but some suggested Chakraborty was depressed.

"May be she had some personal tension. Otherwise, she was a very good officer and had an excellent rapport with her colleagues," a senior officer told Reuters.