A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) of the Indian Army was killed in a gunfight with militants along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Akhnoor sector in Jammu on late Friday night, according to the officials.
The JCO was initially was injured during the gunfight and later succumbed to injuries, the officials said. However, the militants' infiltration bid was thwarted successfully by the security forces.
According to the officials, the encounter broke out as alert army troops identified movement of a group of heavily armed militants near a stream in a forward forest setting in the Keri Bhattal area late Friday. It has been told that a fierce gun fight continued in the area for quite some time.
In view of the development, the whole area has been cordoned off with deployment of reinforcements and a search operation was underway as well.
On February 11, two Army personnel, including a captain, were killed and another was injured in the same area when militants set off an Improvised Explosive Device (IED).
The latest incident came within days after India and Pakistan held a brigade commander-level flag meeting in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district to discuss issues related to border management.
This was the second such meeting since February in an effort to de-escalate tension after nearly a dozen incidents of cross-border firing, and an IED attack.
The Indian army lodged a strong protest with their counterparts over the cross-border terror activities and the ceasefire violations.
The ceasefire violations along the LoC have been very rare since India and Pakistan renewed the ceasefire agreement on February 25, 2021.
