Five Indian Army personnel have been shot dead by suspected terrorists in an exchange of fire in the Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory, an Indian Army official said on Monday.
"One JCO (Junior Commissioned Officer) and four soldiers were killed during a search operation probably by infiltrators… The operation is ongoing", Army spokesperson Colonel Devender Anand told reporters.
The spokesperson said that the anti-insurgency operation was launched in a village, located close to the Dera Ki Gali area in the Poonch District, in the morning following intelligence input about their presence.
The shootings occurred in a mountain pass near the Line of Control (LoC) that divides the disputed Himalayan territory between India and Pakistan.
"The encounter with the terrorists was going on, and further details are awaited", Indian news channel NDTV reported.
It is being said that it is the deadliest attack on Indian forces this year.
The encounter came a week after six civilians were killed by alleged terrorists, evoking widespread condemnation in the region.
The Resistance Front (TRF), designated as a terror organisation by India, created months after the Indian government ended Jammu and Kashmir's special status in 2019, claimed responsibility for the attacks against civilians last week, when two teachers were shot dead.
TRF is believed to be an offshot of a banned terrorist organisation called Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
On Sunday, nearly 500 people were detained in Jammu and Kashmir by security forces who are investigating the spate of killings by suspected terrorists, AFP quoted an official as saying.
A total of 29 civilians have been shot dead in Kashmir so far this year, it added.