Jammu and Kashmir: 2 jawans killed in another encounter in Poonch

A security personnel frisks a motorist, in Srinagar on Friday. Pic/AFP

Two army personnel were killed in an encounter with militants in Jammu & Kashmir's Poonch district, officials said on Friday. The operation is still going on in a forested area in the district's Mendhar sub-division, they said.

"In an ongoing counter-terrorism operation in the general area of Nar Khas forest in Mendhar sub-division there was an exchange of fire between army troops and militants during the evening hours of Thursday," a defence spokesperson said. Riflemen Vikram Singh Negi, 26, and Yogambar Singh, 27, were killed in the encounter. Efforts are being made to trace a missing junior commissioned officer and the area is prone to danger, the officials said.

On October 12, five army personnel were killed in an encounter in Dera Ki Gali in the Surankote area of Poonch district. Meanwhile, the managing body of Srinagar's historic Jamia Masjid on Friday claimed that authorities did not allow congregational prayers there by deploying security forces in large numbers.

In a statement, the Anjuman Auqaf Jamia Masjid also said that police personnel "forced" employees to close all gates of the mosque and no ‘namazis' (devotees) were allowed inside. A large group of devotees, including women and children, who had gathered outside the mosque, strongly protested this "authoritarian move" and demanded that they be allowed to go inside the mosque to offer prayers, but to no avail, it claimed.

5
No. of soldiers killed in Oct 12 encounter

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