Army Officer, 4 Soldiers Killed In Line Of Duty In Jammu And Kashmir

An army officer and four other soldiers were killed in action during an encounter between security forces and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Monday, officials said.

Sources said a heavy gunfight was underway in the Surankote area with at least four to five heavily armed terrorists who crossed into the country a few days ago.

The anti-insurgency operation was launched in a village close to Dera Ki Gali in the early hours following intelligence inputs about their presence, they said.

The hiding terrorists fired on the search parties resulting in a fierce gunfight and critical injuries to a Junior Commissioned Officer or JCO and four other soldiers. They died from their injuries.

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

Officials said there were reports about the presence of a group of heavily-armed terrorists in the Chamrer forest, after they managed to sneak from across the Line of Control a few days ago.

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

The incident comes amid increasing terrorist activity in Kashmir valley in recent weeks and the revival of ceasefire violations along the Line of Control with Pakistan.

Over the last week, security forces have detained over 900 people in the union territory in response to the killing of seven civilians.

(With inputs from PTI)