Rajouri, Oct 15: With the recovery of bodies of missing JCO and a soldier, the number of army men killed in Thursday’s gunfight between security forces and militants has mounted to four, officials said today.
The gunfight broke out on Thursday evening after the security forces launched a search operation in Bhata Dhurian village following inputs about the presence of militants. In the gunfight, two soldiers were killed while two others, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), were reported missing.
“Both the bodies were retrieved on Saturday evening and have now been brought to Primary Health Center Bhata Dhurian for post-mortem examination,” an official confirmed to Greater Kashmir.
An army spokesman identified the slain soldiers as Subedar Ajay Singh and Naik Harendra Singh. He said the bodies of the duo were recovered in the densely forested area of Nar Khas in Mendhar. The duo, he said, was part of the search operations launched to pursue the hiding militants.
The spokesman said that the communication with the duo was disrupted during a fierce gunfight with the militants on 14th Oct 2021.
He said that the search operation launched in the area to pursue the militants entered third day today with local sources confirming that gunfire was heard in the woods.
Sources said that army used heavy weaponry to target a gorge where militants could be hiding.
They added that villages including Bhata Dhurian, Nar forest area, Sanjiote are under tight cordon but there are no immediate reports of any militant killing so far.
Meanwhile, an anti-militancy operation which is going on in Chamrer and Dehra Ki Gali forest area on the boundary of Rajouri and Poonch entered sixth consecutive day on Saturday.
In this encounter, five army personnel including a Junior Commissioned Officer were killed after a search team came under fire from militants in dense Chamrer forest.