Security forces launch CASO in Bhangai area of Rajouri district

Security forces on Tuesday morning launched a cordon and search operation (CASO) in the Poonch and Rajouri districts of Jammu and Kashmir. The development assumes significance given the killing of five security personnel in a gunfight with militants at Shahdara.

J&K: Security forces on Tuesday morning launched a cordon and search operation (CASO) in the Poonch and Rajouri districts of Jammu and Kashmir. The development assumes significance given the killing of five security personnel in a gunfight with militants at Shahdara.

"On the night of 10 and 11, a counter (militancy) operation was launched by Army and Jammu and Kashmir Police in the area of Shahdara, near the boundary of Poonch-Rajouri districts in J&K. During the conduct of the operation, militants brought down a heavy volume of fire on to Army troops, leading to fatal injuries to one JCO and four soldiers," said a defence ministry spokesman based in Jammu.

He identified the martyred soldiers as Naib Subedar Jaswinder Singh (Kapurthala Punjab), Naik Mandeep Singh (Gurdaspur, Punjab), and Sepoys Sajjan Singh, Saraj Singh (Ropar, Punjab) and Vaisakh H (Kudavattoor, Kollam, Kerala).

After the initial encounter, he said, the militants fled to nearby Bhangai village, which falls in Rajouri district, and the encounter is still in progress.

Five army personnel, including a junior commissioner officer (JCO), were killed in a shootout with militants in villages near Dera Ki Gali in the Surankot area of Poonch district, on Monday morning. The incident was confirmed by the Defense Ministry's Jammu-based PRO. The clashes erupted when the army launched a siege and search operation in the area.