Five Indian Army jawans killed in counter-terror op in Jammu and Kashmir

PTI, May 5, 2023, 4:35 PM IST

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Five Army personnel belonging to Special Forces were killed in an explosion triggered by terrorists in a thickly vegetated area in Kandi forest of Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district on Friday, officials said. Initially, two soldiers had died in the incident, while four others were injured. Three of the injured have also succumbed to the injuries.

A statement from the Army’s Northern Command said its personnel have been conducting “relentless intelligence-based operations to flush out a group of terrorists involved in an ambush on an Army truck in the Tota Gali area of Bhata Dhurian in Jammu region last month”.

“On specific information about the presence of terrorists in the Kandi Forest in the Rajouri Sector, a joint operation was launched on May 3. Around 7.30 am on Friday, a search team established contact with a group of terrorists well entrenched in a cave. The area is thickly vegetated with rocky and steep cliffs.

The statement said additional teams from the vicinity have been directed to the site of the encounter and the injured personnel have been evacuated to Command Hospital at Udhampur.

As per initial reports, a group of terrorists are trapped in the area, it said, adding, “There is a likelihood of casualties in the terrorist group and the operation is in progress.”

Meanwhile, the mobile internet facilities in the Rajouri area have been suspended, officials said.