Rajouri/Jammu: Four Army personnel, including two captains, were killed and two others were injured during an encounter between security forces and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district on Wednesday, officials said.
The fierce gunfight was going on in the area with the induction of more troops to neutralise two terrorists trapped there, they said. Officials said two captains, a havildar and a jawan lost their lives during the encounter.
A major and another jawan suffered injuries in the encounter, they said, adding the injured have been shifted to the Army's Command Hospital in Udhampur.
The encounter broke out between terrorists and joint forces of the Army and the Jammu and Kashmir Police in the Bajimaal area of Dharmsal following a cordon-and-search operation, the police said.
In a post on X, the White Knight Corps of the Army said that based on specific intelligence, joint operations were launched in the Kalakote area of Gulabgarh forest in Rajouri on Sunday.
"Contact established on 22 Nov and intense firefight ensued. The terrorists have been injured and surrounded and operations are in progress, amidst acts of valour and sacrifice by own bravehearts in trying to prevent collateral damage to women and children in the highest traditions of IndianArmy. #Whiteknightcorps salutes the supreme sacrifice," it said.
Officials said the operation has been intensified with the induction of additional troops. Residents said that a cordon-and-search operation has been going on in the area since Sunday to track down terrorists operating in the area.
"Due to the operation, we were asked to stay home and not venture out. Our children stayed back at home and did not attend the school," a villager told PTI.
He said the firing was going on in the forest area close to the village. Officials said the two terrorists trapped at the encounter site in Bajimaal appeared to be foreign nationals and had been moving around in the area since Sunday. They even took shelter at a place of worship, they said.
The latest encounter in Rajouri comes close on the heels of another gunfight in Behrote in the Budhal area on November 17, in which one terrorist was killed.
Two earlier ambushes in the Mendhar area of Poonch and Kandi forest of Rajouri on April 20 and May 5 respectively had claimed the lives of 10 soldiers.
15 Army men, 25 terrorists among 47 killed in Jammu this year
Forty-seven people, including 15 security personnel and 25 terrorists, were killed in three districts of Jammu this year, officials said on Wednesday, ascribing the uptick in violence to "desperate attempts from across the border" to revive militancy in the region.
The dead included four Army officers, including two captains, who lost their lives in an ongoing anti-terrorist operation in the Bajimaal area of Rajouri district.
Two earlier ambushes in the Mendhar area of Poonch and Kandi forest of Rajouri on April 20 and May 5, respectively had claimed the lives of 10 soldiers, including five commandos.
According to officials, 47 deaths have been recorded in militancy-related violence since January this year in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch and nearby Reasi district.
While 24 people, including seven terrorists and 10 security personnel, have been killed in Rajouri this year, 15 terrorists and five security personnel have been killed in Poonch district. Three terrorists were killed in the Reasi district.
Most of the terrorists were killed while attempting to sneak into this side of the border, the officials said.
The latest encounter in Rajouri comes close on the heels of another gunfight in Behrote in the Budhal area on November 17, which left one terrorist dead.
The officials said the uptick in the encounters was a result of massive counter-terrorist operations by security agencies to scuttle repeated attempts from across the border to revive militancy in the Jammu region and to ease pressure on the terrorists operating in Kashmir Valley.
This year, 121 people, including 81 terrorists and 27 security personnel, have been killed in militancy-related violence in Jammu and Kashmir. The dead include an Army colonel and a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) who lost their lives in a week-long operation in south Kashmir's Anantnag district.
