Day 15: Firing resumes at Rajouri-Poonch gunfight site

Jammu, Oct 25: Fresh firing has broken out between security forces and a group of heavily armed terrorists on Monday morning in the Bhati Dhurian forest of Mendhar on the Rajouri-Poonch boundary in Jammu and Kashmir.

The encounter on Monday entered its 15th consecutive day.

Official sources said that terrorists fired at the search party, which also returned retaliatory firing.

Intermittent firing is going on, they said when reports last came in.

On Sunday two police personnel, one Army jawan were injured, while one arrested terrorist, who was taken to the encounter site to identify the hideout of fellow terrorists engaged in the gun fight for the last two weeks, was killed in the firing.

The arrested terrorist Zia Mustafa, a Pakistani terrorist belonging to the LeT was taken to Bhatadurian to identify the terrorist hideout during the ongoing operation, police said.

Zia Mustafa also sustained injuries in the encounter and his body was retrieved later from the encounter site.

A fierce encounter erupted on October 11 in which so far nine soldiers including two Junior Commissioned Officers have been martyred.