Five ultras, jawan killed in Jammu

Jammu, Feb 22 (UNI) Five militants, including two foreigners, were killed by security forces in separate encounters in Udhampur and Poonch districts of Jammu and Kashmir today.

SSP (Reasi-Mahore) J L Sharma said acting on a tip-off about the presence of three Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militants in the area, police and Army jawans laid a cordon around the area at about 2200 hrs yesterday, plugging all escape routes.

During the operation, the militants threw grenades and started firng on the troops, which was returned.

The intermittent exchange of fire between the two sides continued throughout the night, the SSP said and added two of the militants were killed by troops after over 13 hours of encounter at about 1100 hrs today.

He said the third militant was shot dead by troops at about 1130 hrs when he made an attempt to flee the spot.

An Army jawan was also killed in the gunbattle, while another sustained critical wounds. The injured was hospitalised.

Identity of the slain militants, two of whom were Pakistanis, were yet to be established. A large quantity of arms and ammunition was recovered from them.

In an another gunbattle, two Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militants, including area commander Abu Salim, were killed by Police and Army in a joint encounter at Dhara Sangla near Surankot in Poonch.

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