JAMMU, JULY 17: The security forces during wee hours of Wednesday had an brief exchange of fire in Bhata Desa forests of Doda district with terrorists who are believed to have escaped after killing four soldiers in the area on the night of July 15.
Sources said that the contact with terrorists got re-established around 1 am during continued searches in the forests.
The terrorists, however, fled after a brief exchange of fire with the troops.
Later, the absconding terrorists also had a brief exchange of fire with the village defence group (VDG).
Massive searches by security forces, Jammu Kashmir Police and Central Armed Police Force personnel are going on in the area.
The absconding terrorists had on Monday night had attacked a joint search party of army and police personnel in the forest area killing a Captain among four soldiers.
The terrorists are believed to be the same group who had fled after attacking the security forces and police in Foda district’s Sezan forests on the evening of July 9.
The security forces and police have been conducting a series of joint and coordinated operations to eliminate terrorists who they believe to have infiltrated from across the border and are moving in the upper reaches of Udhampur, Doda and Kishtwar districts.
Searches in Doda forests have been underway since terrorists attacked a patrol party killing an SPO on April 28 in Udhampur’s Basantgarh area which borders with Bhaderwah’s Seoj Dhar area.