5 Army personnel martyred in gunfight with terrorists in J&K's Poonch

Poonch: Five Army personnel, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), were killed in a fierce gunfight with terrorists during an anti-insurgency operation in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, officials said.

The operation was launched in a village close to DKG in Surankote in the early hours following intelligence inputs about presence of terrorists, a Defence spokesman said.

He said the ultras opened heavy fire on the search parties resulting in critical injuries to the JCO and four other ranks.

All the five soldiers succumbed to their injuries.

The encounter with the terrorists was going on and further details are awaited, the spokesman said.

The officials said there are reports about presence of a group of heavily-armed terrorists in Chamrer forest after they managed to sneak from across the Line of Control (LoC).

Reinforcements have been rushed to the area to plug all escape routes to ensure the terrorists are neutralised, they said.

Earlier today, two militants were killed and a policeman was injured during encounters in Anantnag and Bandipora districts.

Security forces had launched a cordon and search operation at Khagund in Anantnag district's Verinag area after getting information that terrorists were present there. The search operation turned into an encounter after militants opened fire, army officials said.