Army officer among four soldiers killed in encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda
SRINAGAR, JULY 16 : Four army personnel, including an officer, who were critically injured in a gunfight with heavily armed terrorists, succumbed to injuries in the Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir early Tuesday, official sources said.
The encounter took place when the troops of Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operations Group of J&K Police launched a joint cordon and search operation at Dhari Gote Urarbagi in Desa forest belt, 55 km from Doda town, late on Monday evening, the officials said.
According to security officials, as the search operation was going on, militants fired from automatic weapons towards the search party at around 9 pm.
“The fire was returned by the troops and in the ensuing fight, five soldiers were injured,” the official said.
The injured army men were evacuated to a nearby military hospital, where four of the critically injured succumbed to injuries today morning.
Among the deceased soldiers is an officer.
The security official said the search operation in the forest area is going on.
Additional army, police and paramilitary personnel have been rushed to the forest area to tighten the siege and assist the security men on the ground in the search operation.
The security men were using drones and sniffer dogs to track down the movement of the militants.
It is the second major militant attack on security forces in Jammu region in the last eight days.
Earlier this month, on July 8, militants ambushed an army convoy in the border district of Kathua in which five soldiers were killed and five others injured.
The militants, according to security agencies, are making concerted efforts to shift militancy to the Jammu region from Kashmir. Militants have carried out a series of attacks on security forces in Jammu region in the last few years.
-PTI
