Four jawans hurt in gun-fight with militants near LoC

Srinagar: Four Army jawans have been injured in a gunfight with militants in an area of Nowgam sector of the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district.

The police and Army sources said that the gunfight began after the soldiers of Army’s 8 Bihar regiment intercepted a group of militants near Sangam Post of the LoC at around 9.20 am on Thursday. Confirming the incident, an Army official said, “The group of militants after being challenged opened fire triggering a gunfight which was going on as reports last came in”.

The sources said that in the initial barrage of gun fire from militants, four soldiers were injured. They were immediately evacuated to a nearby medical facility, the sources added.

Reinforcements have reached the area to take on the militants. The Army has laid siege to a vast area to ensure the militants do not escape.

Earlier on Thursday, the security forces launched a major search operation along the LoC’s Jhanger area in Rajouri district. This comes a day after the Indian and Pakistani troops traded fire in the area, leaving one India Army jawan injured.

The officials said that a huge cache of explosives has been recovered during the search operation.

SSP Rajouri Yougal Manhas said that search operation is underway in Lam and Keri villages of the LoC.  The officials believe that a group of militants may have succeeded in sneaking into the Indian side of the de facto border while taking the advantage of clash between the facing armies and the explosives found in the area may have been in their possession.