Soldier killed in encounter in J-K's Doda

An Army personnel was killed in an ongoing gunbattle with terrorists in a village in Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district on Sunday, officials said.

The encounter started when security forces launched a joint operation in Posta-Potra village in Gundana area, 26 kms from Doda town, following information about presence of some terrorists, the officials said.

An Army jawan was critically injured in the initial firing from the holed up terrorists and later succumbed to injuries while being evacuated to hospital, they said.

They said joint teams of Army's Rashtriya Rifles, police and CRPF were launched on Saturday night after inputs were received about presence of two suspected terrorists inside a house.

As the search parties were moving towards the target area, they came under heavy fire which was retaliated, the officials said, adding, reinforcements have been rushed to the area and further details are awaited.

This is the second encounter between security forces and terrorists in Doda district this year. Earlier, Hizbul Mujahideen commander Haroon Abbas was killed by security forces on January 15.

Earlier this month, two Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists were arrested along with some arms and ammunition in the district.