An armed guard of Qatal was also killed in the attack that took place on Saturday night.
An Army vehicle skidded off the road and fell into a gorge near SK Payen in the north Kashmir district, they said.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has started interviewing eyewitnesses, including tourists, in connection with the deadly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, south Kashmir. The attack, carried out by terrorists from the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed the lives of 26 people on April 22. Initial investigations suggest that five to seven terrorists were involved, aided by local militants trained in Pakistan. Security forces are conducting massive operations to hunt down the terrorists in the dense jungles of the Pir Panjal range.
Violating the ceasefire again, Pakistani troops fired on forward posts along the Line of Control in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.
On Monday, five Army personnel were killed and five injured when heavily armed terrorists hurled a grenade and opened indiscriminate fire on two army vehicles around 3.30 pm on the Machedi-Kindli-Malhar mountainous road near Badnota village, about 150 km from the district headquarters Kathua.
Pakistani troops again targeted Indian posts along the Line of Control in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, drawing a retaliation from Indian troops.
This is the second such incident along the India-Pakistan border in Jammu division in two days.
As part of the heightened security arrangements in view of Modi's visit, the officials said, the BSF and the police conducted a joint two-hour-long anti-tunnelling operation in the Ramgarh sector of Samba district.
With 19 border polling stations along the Line of Control in Rajouri and Poonch, a contingency plan has been worked out to deal with cross-border shelling though chances are negligible given the ongoing ceasefire between India and Pakistan that came into effect in February 2021, officials said.
The father of Murali Naik, a soldier from Andhra Pradesh who died during cross-border shelling in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch, said his son joined the Army despite his opposition as he wanted to serve the nation. Naik, a 23-year-old Agniveer, died in the line of duty on Friday. He was the primary breadwinner for his family, which has been living in Mumbai for the past 32 years. Naik's death has been mourned by politicians and officials, including Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Security forces continued a massive search operation on Tuesday in a forest area connecting the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir, where five soldiers including a junior commissioned officer were killed in a gunfight the previous day, officials said.
Five army personnel were killed and six injured on Monday when terrorists ambushed their vehicle in the remote Machedi area of Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, officials said.
"Pakistani troops resorted again to firing from automatic and small arms on Indian posts along the LoC in Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch district from 1935 hours," a defence spokesperson said in Jammu on Saturday.
The ceasefire violation took place around 8:30 am. A JCO of the army and a BSF head constable were killed in the attack, a senior officer of the paramilitary force said.
Troops of Pakistan opened fire at Army posts and civilian areas in Poonch district on the Line of Control with automatic weapons and rockets for the fourth day in row on Wednesday prompting army to return fire.
This has also raised concerns over undetected infiltrations from across the Line of Control and terrorists potentially residing in the outskirts of cities and villages, they said.
Mukhtar Hussain Shah, a resident of Nar village in the district's Mendhar tehsil, was disturbed as he was facing some domestic issues, he said, adding that he was not summoned as a suspect.
There was no loss of life or injury to anyone in the firing, a police officer said.
Violating the ceasefire for the 10th time this month, Pakistani troops on Sunday opened heavy fire on Indian posts along the LoC in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Ceasefire violations by Pakistan continued as intermittent small arm fire was on through Thursday night in Balakota and Sabzian area in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir. The firing started at 9:30 pm and continued till the morning.
Nine Army personnel including two JCO's and an arrested Pakistani terrorist have been killed and three security men injured since the commencement of the operation on October 11.
There have been 21 ceasefire violations along the Indo-Pak border in Jammu region in August
Indian troops guarding the border, retaliated resulting in exchanges.
The couple's three daughters were injured in the firing.
Pakistan troops once again violated the bilateral ceasefire along the Line of Control in the Hamirpur sector of Poonch district in Jammu region late Tuesday night.
'A man with a gun commanded respect. I thought if I also got a gun, I could save my family. With this thought, I went to Pakistan and got training there'
Pakistan fired at forward posts along the LoC around 2.30 am in Krishnaghati sector in Poonch, in which the Army personnel was killed, the official said.
Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations admitted three casualties among their troops at Rakhchakri in Rawalakot.
A terrorist was killed and another was most likely injured on Saturday in an ongoing operation in the densely forested area of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir, Army said.
Meanwhile, a precautionary blackout has been enforfced in the multiple areas amid the esclating tensions between India and Pakistan.
The Hamirpur and Sabzian sectors in Poonch have been targeted by Pakistan troops for the past 3 days, possibly to facilitate infiltration from across the border.
After a series ceasefire violations by Pakistan troops in the past six days, guns fell silent on Friday along the Indo-Pak Border in Jammu region of J&K.
Reports said in the retaliatory action by the Indian Army, one Pakistani post Twiven1 has been been destroyed.
The militant was operating in Pir Panjal range for past more than five years and carried an education department's identity card on the name of Parvez Ahmed, son of Mohammad Arif resident of Tope in Mendhar. The I-Card had on it the stamp and signatures of zonal education officer (ZEO), Mankot, Mendhar.
The manhunt for the terrorists responsible for the ambush in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, which resulted in the tragic death of five army personnel, has led to the detention of a truck driver and 50 others for questioning, officials said on Wednesday.
Local commanders of Pakistan also told Indian counterpart that no ceasefire violation was committed by their side.
Violating the ceasefire for the 14th time in the past 12 days, Pakistani troops on Friday targeted two border out posts along the International Border in Jammu sector drawing retaliation from Indian troops.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti expressed anguish over the loss of lives and stressed the need for peace "if we want to save the people of the state".
The nine targets struck under 'Operation Sindoor', four in Pakistan and five in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, were chosen by the IAF after receiving intelligence inputs about terror camps operating under the guise of health centres to evade detection at these sites, officials said on Wednesday.
In a major ceasefire violation along the Line of Control, Pakistan Army on Saturday targeted 22 Border Security Force posts near the international border in R S Pura sector and Arania sub sector, killing two civilians and injuring four.
