5 Indian army personnel killed in Kashmir encounter with militants

An officer and four soldiers of the Indian army were killed in an encounter with terrorists during an anti-militancy operation in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district today, officials said.

The operation was launched at a village in Surankote early today following intelligence inputs about the presence of heavily-armed terrorists inside a forest there, the officials added.

The terrorists fired at the Indian security personnel triggering a fierce gun battle in which a junior commissioned officer and four other soldiers suffered fatal injuries, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

The officials also said there are reports about the presence of a group of terrorists in Chamrer forest after they managed to sneak in across the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan.

Reinforcements have been rushed to the area to plug all escape routes to ensure the terrorists are neutralised, they added.

Two militants were also killed in separate gun battles in Kashmir, reports Reuters.

In north Kashmir, security forces shot dead a suspected militant from The Resistance Front (TRF), which Indian police believe is the Pakistan-backed group behind the series of civilian assassinations.

The militant was a suspect in the killing of a civilian driver and security forces had been looking for him after arresting four of his associates on Sunday, the Kashmir valley's police chief Vijay Kumar said.

"He was shot dead this morning," Kumar said.

In a separate incident, another militant was killed in a gun battle in south Kashmir, added Kumar.