Jammu:
A militant was killed in an encounter with the Army in Beri-Rakh forest in the border district of Poonch as the operation to track down militants in the area entered the third day on Thursday. An AK-47 has been recovered.
"In the morning we established a contact with the terrorists again and in the encounter one terrorist has been killed, so far we haven't identified which outfit he belongs to, we have recovered a personal weapon of the terrorist, matrix sheet and a copy of quran", said Lieutenant General Rameshwar Rai, General Officer Commanding, 16 Corps
Reports suggest the slain militant belonged to the Lashkar-e-Toiba. Meanwhile, the body of 28-year old Major Amit Thenge, who was killed in the encouter, was brought to Jammu today. It will be sent to his home town Chindwara in Madhya Pradesh for final rites, after the army pays its tributes to the officer. Major Thenge was commissioned into the Indian Army in 2007.
The anti-terrorist operation was launched by Army's 37 Rashtriya Rifle (RR) troops on inputs about the infiltration of a group of 10 to 12 militants in Mankote forest belt on July 13, at around 0900 hours. Six army men including a colonel, have been injured in the operation.