Five soldiers have died and another is injured in an encounter with terrorists in the Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Friday.
A defence spokesperson said that the army had launched an operation to flush out terrorists who were responsible for a recent attack on the army in which five soldiers were killed.
The spokesperson said that during the operation, "terrorists triggered explosives in retaliation". While two soldiers died on the spot, four others were injured and evacuated to Command Hospital, Udhampur, the army said. Of them, three have died due to their injuries.
The operation was launched at Kesri Hill in the Kandi area of the Rajouri district. The army said that they had received specific information about the presence of a group of terrorists entrenched in a cave.
According to the army, the group of terrorists is involved in an ambush on an army truck on April 20 at Bhata Dhurian in Poonch district. Five soldiers were killed in the attack, and the terrorists also fled with the weapons of the fallen soldiers.
"Indian Army columns have been conducting relentless intelligence-based operations to flush out a group of terrorists involved in an ambush on an army truck in the Tota Gali area of Bhata Dhurian in the Jammu region," said the army spokesperson.
He said that additional troops from the vicinity have been directed to the site of the encounter.
According to the army, initial reports suggest a group of terrorists is trapped in the area and there is a "likelihood of casualties in the terrorist group".
The incident appeared to be a repeat of an October 2021 operation in the Rajouri-Poonch region, when five soldiers were killed in an encounter with terrorists.
During the operation that followed, four more army soldiers were killed in an ambush by terrorists.
After a month-long operation, no terrorist could be tracked down.
After last month's Bhata Durian attack, a massive cordon and search operation has been underway without significant success in tracking down the attackers.
The army has said the operation is in progress and more details are awaited.
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