Five Indian Army personnel killed during counter-terrorism ops in J&K; fresh encounter erupts in Poonch

A fresh encounter has erupted in Poonch just hours after five army personnel including a junior commissioned officer (JCO) were killed during a counter-terrorism operation in Jammu and Kashmi, according to several media reports.As per ANI, an army personnel has been injured in the operation which took place around two kilometres away from the site of the first encounter.The operation is on and more details are awaited.Sequence of eventsThe Indian Army is yet to officially confirm the chain of events that lead to the deadly encounter. But various media reports indicate that the slain army soldiers were in the area, responding to a late-night intelligence input indicating that a group of terrorists will attempt to cross the border.Upon noticing some activity in a village close to Dehra ki Gali (DKG) region in Surankote, the army personnel launched an operation in the early hours on Monday.The search party assessed that three to four militants were trying to infiltrate from across the border following which they set up a cordon and took on the terrorist. But the hiding ultras were heavily armed and they opened fire on the search parties, critically injuring the five security personnel, all of whom later succumbed to their injuries at a local hospital.Reinforcements have been rushed to the area to plug all escape routes of the terrorists and the operation is still underway, an official told PTI. They said that there are reports about the presence of a group of heavily-armed terrorists in the Chamrer forest, after they managed to sneak from across the Line of Control (LoC)."The critically injured JCO and four jawans were evacuated to the nearest medical facility but succumbed to their injuries. The operation is still going on," the Army said in its official statement.Earlier in the day, the Jammu and Kashmir police had informed that two terrorists were killed in separate operations in Anantnag and Bandipora districts. They said that one of the terrorists, identified as Imtiaz Ahmad Dar, was affiliated with proscribed terror outfit LeT (TRF) and was involved in the recent civilian killings in the valley.With inputs from agencies