4 army personnel, including Major martyred in encounter with JeM terrorists in Pulwama, J&K

Srinagar, Feb 18: Four soldiers, including a Major were martyred in an overnight encounter at Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir. A civilian has also been killed in the incident. The incident comes just days after the Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were martyred.

The slain personnel - identified as major VS Dhoundiyal, havaldar Sheo Ram, sepoy Ajay Kumar and sepoy Hari Singh - belonged to the 55 Rashtriya Rifles of the Indian Army.

The terrorists opened fire on the forces after they were cornered in the Pinglan area. The firing has now stopped and search operations were carried out. Two terrorists of the Jaish-e-Mohammad are still trapped.

"Exchange of fire at #Pinglan in District #Pulwama. Area under cordon. Details will follow. @JmuKmrPolice," Kashmir police tweeted earlier on Monday.

Meanwhile movement of convoys by road for logistical and operational reasons has been and will continue to be necessary, the Home Ministry has said. Reports appeared in a section of the media that air transit facility in the Jammu- Srinagar sector for CRPF troops has not been allowed. This is "untrue", it said.

"Fact of the matter is, over the last few years, the MHA has significantly enhanced air courier services for CAPFs in all sectors to help jawans cut down on travel time during their journey to and back from home on leave," it said.

In the Jammu and Kashmir sector, air courier service for transportation of jawans of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPFs) is already in operation for quite some time.

This initially included the Jammu-Srinagar-Jammu sector. Later, at the request of CAPFs in December 2017, the services were extended to the Delhi-Jammu- Srinagar-Jammu-Delhi sector with seven flights a week. In December 2018, the ministry had approved enhancement of air support by increasing routes and in the Delhi-Jammu-Srinagar-Jammu-Delhi sector, four flights in a week were added to the Srinagar-Jammu-Srinagar sector.