An army jawan was killed as troops foiled yet another bid by militants to infiltrate under the cover of firing from Pakistani side along Line of Control in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir, a senior army official said in Jammu on Thursday.

This is the fourth infiltration bid in past 12 days and sixth in the last three weeks along the Indo-Pak border in J-K.

A group of unidentified militants entered Indian territory under the cover of cross-border firing along LoC in Keri sub-sector of Rajouri district late on Wednesday night, he said.

There was firing on a patrolling party on the Indian side near Khalsa post in Keri belt along LoC when troops detected some movement and challenged them.

The unidentified militants opened fired on the troops, who replied back resulting in gunbattle, he said adding that militants later escaped back to Pakistani side after brief firefight.

However in the gunbattle, one jawan was killed, he said, adding that there were no reports about the loss on the other side.

The deceased jawan was identified as Sepoy Amarjeet Singh of Sangrore district of Punjab. Singh belonged to the 2 Sikh unit.

There is an increase in infiltration attempts from across the border. But alert troops have beaten back these attempts. This show desperation in militant leadership of Pakistan to send in more armed militants in view of coming assembly elections, he said.

BSF troops on October 3 had foiled an infiltration bid under cover of fire from the Pakistan side and killed an infiltrator along Indo-Pak border in Kunara Tana Khurd area of Jammu district.

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