A soldier and an unidentified militant were killed while as five soldiers were injured in an encounter at Machhil sector in north Kashmir's Kupwara district.The encounter broke out yesterday morning after the soldiers of 56 RR who were manning the Line of Control (LoC) intercepted a militant group believed to be infiltrators at Katwara forest area near Jet Gali, some 4 kilometers away from the fence, in Machhil sector Tuesday morning, a senior police officer told news agency GNS.After being challenged, the suspected militants opened fire on the forces triggering off an encounter, he said."In the day long gunfight yesterday, five soldiers have sustained injuries and has been immediately airlifted to army's 92 base hospital for treatment", he said.The injured soldiers have been identified as Sepoy Suraj Kumar, Sepoy Nitesh Kumar, Sepoy Lakhan Singh, Sepoy Lakashman Das and Sepoy Nikhil.
Among the five injured Sepoy Lakashman Das according to official sources is in critical conditions as he sustained bullet injuries in his chest."Soon after the gunfight broke out, the additional reinforcement of para-troopers has been rushed to the area and joined the operation".Last evening, the exchange of gunfire raged the area with the group of militants resulting in injuries to one more soldier identified as Signalman Ajay Singh Choudhary.Choudhary(24), a resident of Rajasthan, was immediately airlifted to army's 92 base hospital where he succumbed to injuries today, he said.Today in the morning when the joint team of para-commandos and 56 RR launched the search operation and recovered a militant body from the spot, he said, adding that the operation has been launched to track down the militant group.Meanwhile, official sources said that besides para-commandos army used sniffer dogs and choppers into service to locate the other members of the group who are believed to be hiding inside the dense bushes.When reports last came in, the search operation in the area is still going on. (GNS)