Two Army personnel were killed and two others injured in an encounter with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district, officials said on Friday.
A gunfight erupted when a joint Army and police team, acting on a tip-off, initiated a cordon-and-search operation in the Naidgham area of the Chhatroo belt, according to officials.
The firing occurred between the search team and terrorists who were hiding in the Pingnal Dugadda forest area, located in the upper reaches of Naidgham village within the Chhatroo police station jurisdiction.
Four Army personnel were injured in the encounter. Two of them -- Junior Commissioned Officer Naib Subedar Vipan Kumar and Sepoy Arvind Singh -- later succumbed to the injuries.
The security forces have cordoned off the area and operations are on in the area, the Indian Army said.
The officials said the injured soldiers were airlifted to an Army hospital after preliminary treatment at a local hospital.
OP SHAHPURSHAL
Based on the intelligence inputs, a joint operation with J&K Police was launched in area Chatroo at #Kishtwar
A contact has been established with the terrorists at 1530 hrs.
In the ensuing firefight four army personnel have been injured.
Meanwhile, a separate encounter started between security forces and terrorists in the Chak Tapper Kreeri Pattan area of Baramulla district on Friday night. A gunfight and search operation were underway in the area, according to the police.
The Union Territory is witnessing sporadic incidents of violence ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls, the first elections in the region in 10 years.
On Wednesday, two terrorists were killed in an encounter in Basantgarh near the Kathua-Udhampur border in the Union Territory. A gunfight had broken out between security forces and terrorists in Udhampur district earlier in the day.
Upon being informed about the presence of terrorists in the region, paramilitary troops and police personnel reached Basantgarh and cordoned off the area. The encounter came just hours after a personnel from the Border Security Force (BSF) was injured after Pakistan Rangers resorted to unprovoked firing along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu's Akhnoor sector.
