The bodies of two village defence guards (VDG) killed by terrorists were found near a rivulet on Friday during a massive search operation in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district, officials said.
They said police parties fanned out to find them amid reports that they had been abducted and killed by terrorists.
The attack, which claimed the lives of seven individuals, including a local doctor and two labourers from Bihar, has raised concerns about the unreported trend of local youths joining terrorist groups in Kashmir during this period.
A Defence spokesman said the ultras opened heavy fire on search parties resulting in critical injuries to the JCO and four other personnel.
Would you spend Rs 2.5 lakhs to make your car look like a helicopter? Ishwar Deen, a sculptor who lives in Ambedkar Nagar's Khajuri Bazar, did.
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.
On Saturday also Pakistani forces had violated ceasefire after which Indian troops had retaliated damaging three posts and causing causalities to Pakistani army.
The soldier, manning a forward post, was killed in the firing from across the border in Shahpur-Kerni area of Poonch sector, an Army official said.
The troops were patrolling the forward area in Nowshera sector when the explosion occurred, the sources said.
The intelligence agencies have also bolstered their apparatus in the area and are working to take out the terrorist support infrastructure there including overground workers who support terrorists, they said.
The Indian Army is retaliating strongly and effectively. The firing is still on, he said.
'Terrorists who are active in Poonch and Rajouri are not relying on random locals for logistics, guidance etc.' 'They are being supported by a selected few who are being vetted, cleared and directed from across the LoC.'
Firing is going on in the under-construction Mini Secretariat and the operation is on.
Once identified, these individuals are drawn into private groups where they are exposed to manipulative content, including fabricated videos depicting atrocities allegedly committed by security forces, the officials said.
Congress rebel Satish Sharma, who defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party's Rajeev Sharma by nearly 7,000 votes and relegated his former party's heavyweight Tara Chand to the third position in the Chhamb seat, has found a place in the Omar Abdullah government, representing the Jammu region in the dispensation.
Here is a chronology of terror incidents in the region this year.
The Pakistani army had shelled the brigade headquarters and other Indian military formations in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch on October 23.
Pakistani troops on Friday violated the ceasefire by firing with small arms and mortars on Indian posts along the Line of Control in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, prompting Indian troops to retaliate.
On Tuesday, an army jawan was killed when Pakistan Army violated the ceasefire.
Indian troops also fired in retaliation and the firing stopped from both sides around 1 pm
He was challenged by alert army personnel and tried to run back but troops fired at him resulting in minor injuries.
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.
Three civilians picked up by the Army for questioning after the terrorist ambushed two Army vehicles on Thursday at Dhatyar Morh between Dhera Ki Gali and Buffliaz in Poonch were found dead on December 23.
However, Defence PRO Col Manish Mehta said there was no ceasefire violation.
The repatriation orders for the two Indian Police Service officers come in the backdrop of a spate of terror incidents in the Jammu region, along the India-Pakistan border.
The BJP has emerged the second largest party by winning 29 constituencies in the maiden assembly polls post abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, improving its all-time high tally of 25 seats recorded in 2014 elections.
The defence spokesperson said the Pakistan Army also shelled posts with heavy mortars and opened fire with small arms and automatic weapons in the Poonch sector.
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.
So far, there are no reports of casualties or injuries and a gunbattle is underway.
There was no report of any casualty on the Indian side, he said.
"This fight is against the hatred that the BJP and RSS are spreading throughout the country. They have tried to create conflicts between Hindus and Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, and Hindus and Christians just to hold onto power. But they are failing and their strategy is not working," he said.
In March, Pakistan violated the truce four times along the LoC in Poonch.
The final report against a juvenile who was also apprehended in the case will be submitted to the Juvenile Justice Board in Rajouri, a spokesperson of the federal agency said.
Advising security agencies for appropriate deployment in vulnerable areas in Jammu and Kashmir, Shah stressed that all due procedures should be adopted while conducting counter-terror operations.
2017 has also seen a sharp increase in ceasefire violations at the LoC by Pakistan.
This is the 22nd incident of ceasefire violation this month.
A fresh exchange of fire took place on Thursday between terrorists and security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, where four Army personnel were killed and two others were injured in an encounter, officials said.
Two terrorists, including a top Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT) commander trained in Afghanistan, were killed in a gunfight with security forces on Thursday in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, officials said.
Special Police Officer Naresh Kumar was killed in the encounter between the terrorists and the security forces in the forest area of Mendhar in Poonch district, defence sources said. The Bhati Dhar forest of Mendhar area has been cordoned off by the forces, which are also being assisted by Special Operation Group of police.
A group of militants were trying to cross the border in Banawat forward area in Poonch district around late Wednesday night, PRO, Defence S N Acharya told PTI.
