Five Indian Army Personnel Killed During Anti-Terror Operation in J&K's Rajouri

The operation to flush out the terrorists took a deadly turn on Friday morning.

File image of Indian Army personnel in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir. Image used for representational purposes only.

(Photo Courtesy: Aijaz Dar)

An anti-terror operation in Kashmir's Rajouri district has claimed the lives of over five Indian Army personnel on Friday, 5 May.

The specifics: A blast took place during the operation being jointly conducted by various security forces in the Kandi forest area, according to news agency PTI.

• Two army personnel were reportedly killed in the explosion.

• The wounded were shifted to Command Hospital in Udhampur, where three more personnel succumbed to injuries.

• An internet shutdown has reportedly been imposed in the district.

Zeroing in: “Indian Army columns 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,” according to an army statement cited by The Indian Express.

• “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 read.

• Terrorists hiding in the forest shot at the approaching security personnel who returned fire, the army reportedly said.

Look back: Five soldiers were killed when assailants ambushed an army vehicle in J&K's Poonch on 20 April.

• In the same month, four soldiers were allegedly killed in their sleep by another jawan at the Bathinda military station. The accused, Mohan Desai, has been arrested in connection with the killing.