October 17: The group of militants in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch have been able to evade thousands of security forces for eight days while nine soldiers have died in the encounter.
The ferocity of the fighting between security forces and the group of militants holed up in the jungles of Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district for at least eight days suggests the infiltrators were trained by Pakistani commandos, sources in the army and police have said.
Nine soldiers including two Junior Commissioned Officers or JCOs have been killed in the line of duty, fighting these militants since Monday, in what has become the deadliest encounter for India’s military in Jammu and Kashmir in recent years.
It is also unclear if any of the terrorists have been killed since no bodies have been found yet. The fighting in the 8-9 km stretch of thick forest has continued despite a massive combing operation, a tight cordon and intense shelling.
(With Inputs From NDTV)
