Indian Army soldier injured in encounter with security forces in Poonch

The troops noticed three heavily armed militants attempting to cross the LoC. They opened fire and one soldier was injured in the encounter while the militants escaped. A search operation has been launched to nab the terrorists, officials said.

Poonch: An Indian Army soldier was injured in an encounter with militants when the latter were attempting to cross the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, officials said on Saturday. The militants, however, managed to escape.

The Indian troops posted along the border noticed that three heavily armed terrorists were trying to cross the LoC in the Gulpur sector of Poonch. Taking advantage of the thick foliage and the darkness the militants were trying to infiltrate into the valley. The Army jawans immediately launched an operation.

"An exchange of fire took place between the militants and the jawans in the forward Ranger Nallah area of the Gulpur sector late on Friday when the armed militants attempted to infiltrate into India under the cover of thick foliage and darkness", officials said. One of the soldiers was injured in the incident while the militants managed to escape into the nearby dense forest, officials added.

According to officials, the entire area has been cordoned off and a massive search operation was launched to nab the terrorists. Immediately after the encounter, reinforcements were rushed to the area and the search operation was underway to trace and neutralise the terrorists, the officials said.

The incident has come a day after four terrorists were killed by security forces when they attempted to infiltrate from from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir in the Machhal sector in Kupwara. On Friday, the jawans had recovered a huge cache of arms, ammunition and suspected narcotics from the four terrorists. An official said that nine AK series rifles, three pistols, 55 suspected nacotics packets and four grenades were found.

Last week, five militants were killed in another encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district. Army had launched the operation on the basis of an intelligence input in Jumagund area in Keran sector and eliminated the five heavily armed foreign militants along the LoC in the district.