Two Army jawans and two Special Police Officers (SPO) were killed in a day-long gunbattle in Tarawali area of Poonch district on Monday. Deputy Inspector General of Police, Poonch-Rajouri range, Kamal Kumar Saini, informed that a joint operation was launched on Monday morning, following inputs regarding the presence of militants in the area. The security personnel came under heavy fire when they were zeroing in on the hideout of the militants. He added that security forces have recovered huge quantity of arms and ammunition from the area and that the encounter was still on.

The Ministry of Defence spokesperson, Lt Colonel S D Goswami, identified the deceased as Sepoy Bishan and Sepoy Jarnail Singh of the 16 Rashtriya Rifles. He added that one Army personnel, Om Parkash, also received bullet injuries and was shifted to a hospital. Saini identified the SPOs as Maqbool Hussain Shah and Mohammad Maroof.

“We had been tipped off about the presence of a group of unidentified militants hiding in Tarawali forest in Surankote area of Poonch district. A joint team of Special Operation Group of the state police, local police and Army personnel laid a cordon around the hideout this morning,” Saini added. The DIG did not confirm the identity of the militants and their outfit, but sources said they belonged to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). “The operation will continue till we flush out the militants,” the DIG said, adding that so far there’s no report of any casualty on the militants’ side.