Jammu and Kashmir: Encounter breaks out in Poonch district

NEW DELHI: An exchange of fire took place between the security forces and terrorists in the area of Poonch district, Jammu and Kashmir Police said.
Security forces launched a search operation following reports of firing of a few rounds in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Tuesday, officials said but they denied any exchange of fire between the troops and the terrorists in the area.
There was firing of a few rounds in Bufliaz forest area prompting the security forces and the police to launch a search operation, they said.
The operation was going on when reports last came in from the area.
Earlier on Monday, an unidentified terrorist was killed in an encounter in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district, while a Hizbul Mujahideen operative was arrested in Handwara in Kupwara district.
The gunfight broke out in the Gurihajin area of Aragam in Bandipora on Sunday night after the Army and J&K Police personnel, based on specific intelligence input, launched a joint cordon and search operation and were fired upon by the terrorists, Army’s Srinagar-based Chinar Corps said in a post on X.
While one body was spotted at the encounter site, searches were on to look for more terrorists in the area, an official said, adding that the identity of the slain terrorist was yet to be ascertained.In Kupwara’s Handwara sub-district, security forces arrested a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist in a joint operation launched Sunday night.Zakir Hamid Mir, a resident of Kachri in Chogal, was in touch with a Pakistan-based handler, Zahoor Ahmad Mir of Mirtigam in Handwara.