JCO, 4 Army personnel killed in gunfight with terrorists in Poonch

Violence continues in the restive Kashmir valley as 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 (October 11), 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.

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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.

Kashmir’s deceptive calm was shattered in the first week of October as unidentified assailants gunned down at least five non-combatants – including a well-known chemist – in a span of 48 hours in the heart of the capital Srinagar.

Also read: Five killings in 48 hours rock Kashmir, shatter deceptive calm

Of the five civilians, four were killed in various parts of the summer capital Srinagar. One was a street vendor from Bihar while the remaining four were locals.

In response to the killing of seven civilians, 700 people in Jammu and Kashmir have been detained. Several of them are believed to have links to the banned Jamaat-e-Islami or are suspected overground workers (OGW), and come from southern Kashmir.

(With inputs from agencies)