Five Army personnel, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), were killed in a gunfight with terrorists during an anti-insurgency operation in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, the official stated.
The operation was launched in a village close to DKG in Surankote in the early hours acting upon intelligence information about the presence of terrorists, a defence spokesman said. He said that the terrorists opened fire on the search team ensuing in a fierce gunfight. All the five soldiers succumbed to their wounds.
The officials said that there are reports about the presence of a group of heavily-armed terrorists in Chamrer forest after they managed to sneak from across the Line of Control (LoC). Reinforcement has been rushed to the region to close all escape routes, they said.
Earlier today, two militants were killed and a policeman was injured during encounters in Anantnag and Bandipora. Security forces had carried out a cordon and search operation at Khagund in Anantnag district’s Verinag area after getting information that terrorists were present there.
