Jammu: Two armymen, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), were injured on Sunday in fresh gunbattle as the encounter between a group of militants and Army troops entered the sixth day in Jammu and Kashmir`s Poonch border district.
Two Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants and a Major have been killed and 11 armymen including a Colonel and a Major injured in fierce gunbattles in Beri Rakhi forests near Line of Control (LoC) in Mendhar teshil of Poonch district since July 13.
"There was fresh burst of firing this morning. The operation is on to track down the militants hiding in the dense forest belt of Beri Rakh. The entire forest belt is under cordon from all the sides," a senior army officer told a news agency here today.
In the firing, JCO Subedar Vijay Kumar and sepoy Gathi Kurlay of Rashtriya Rifles were injured and have been hospitalised.
"Their condition is out of danger," he said. The bodies of two LeT militants, who were killed in a fierce encounter with troops on Friday, and one AK-47 rifle have been retrieved from the encounter site during search operation in Beri Rakh forests.
The identity of the slain terrorists has not been established so far, the officer said.
The anti-terrorist operation was launched by Army`s 37 Rashtriya Rifle (RR) troops on inputs about infiltration of a group of 10 to 12 militants in Beri Rakh forests of Mankote
border belt on July 13 around 0900 hours.
During the operation, Major Amit Phunge was killed and six other security personnel, including Colonel Ajay Katoch, injured in an encounter with suspected LeT terrorists on July 13.
On Friday, Major GR Shikhawat and two jawans were injured in the encounter with militants in the same area.
"It is one of the longest running gun battles between the army and terrorists," the officer said, adding that the efforts are on to eliminate the militants.
PTI
