JAMMU: The encounter in Poonch district of J&K has now claimed the lives of nine soldiers, with recovery of two more bodies on Saturday. Bodies of a junior commissioned officer (JCO) and a jawan were recovered from the encounter site in the forests of Mendhar.
A massive search operation in the forest areas of twin frontier districts of Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir was launched earlier to track down terrorists on October 12 when five army personnel, including a JCO, were killed in an encounter in Dera Ki Gali in the Surankote area of Poonch district.

The operation is now into its sixth day.
The area is mountainous and the forest dense, which makes the operation difficult and dangerous, according to the officials.
PRO Defence Jammu Lt Col Devender Anand said, “During the ongoing search operation the security forces recovered the bodies of Subedar Ajay Singh and Naik Harendra Singh of Indian Army who were killed in action.

Subedar Ajay Singh (L) and Subedar Ajay Singh (R) who were killed in action during search operations (PTI)
They were part of search operations launched by the security forces to flush out terrorists hiding in the forested area.
“On October 14, after a fierce firefight with terrorists, the communication with Subedar Ajay Singh and Naik Harendra Singh was disrupted, Col Anand added.
He said, “Relentless operations continued to neutralize the terrorists and to re-establish communication with the soldiers.”
“Subedar Ajay Singh and Naik Harendra Singh were killed in action in the fierce fight and their bodies have been recovered,” he said.

Earlier on Thursday, two army personnel were critically injured and they later succumbed to their injuries.
“Riflemen Vikram Singh Negi (26) and Yogambar Singh (27) attained martyrdom late on Thursday while displaying exemplary courage, devotion and made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty,” the PRO said.
On October 12, five army personnel, including a JCO, were killed in an encounter in Dera Ki Gali in the Surankote area of Poonch district.
There have been a number of encounters in Rajouri and Poonch districts this year but troops had succeeded in neutralizing the terrorists, mostly on the LoC or close to the site of infiltration.