5 soldiers killed in anti-terror operation in Poonch

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 11

Five Army personnel, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), were killed in a fierce gunfight during an anti-insurgency operation in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday.

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They were identified as Naib Subedar Jaswinder Singh of Mana Talwandi village in Kapurthala, Naik Mandeep Singh of Chalha village in Gurdaspur, Sepoy Gajjan Singh of Pachranda village in Ropar, Sepoy Saraj Singh of Akhtyarpur Dhaukal village in Shahjahanpur (UP) and Sepoy Vaisakh H of Odanavattam village in Kerala’s Kollam district.

They were part of an operation launched in a village close to Dera Ki Gali in Surankote in the early hours following Intelligence inputs on the presence of terrorists after they infiltrated from across the Line of Control (LoC). The terrorists opened heavy fire on the search party, resulting in critical injuries to the JCO and four other soldiers. All five succumbed to their injuries at a nearby military hospital.

The Army has information that a group of heavily armed terrorists is hiding in Chamrer forest.