Jammu: In a dark start to the new year, two army personnel were killed in a gunfight with heavily-armed Pakistani infiltrators along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district on Wednesday, officials said.
The infiltrators were intercepted in the Khari Thrayat forest when they were trying to sneak into India from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), they said.
"Two army soldiers martyred during cordon and search operation in Nowshera sector. The operation is still in progress and further details are awaited," Jammu-based Indian Army Public Relations Officer (PRO) Lt Col Devender Anand said in a statement.
The search operation was launched following information about the movement of suspected terrorists, the officials said, adding that the operation is on in the area.
The gunfight comes a day after new army chief Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane warned Pakistan that India reserves the right to "preemptively strike" at sources of terror and asserted that a "new normal" in the country's response mechanism to acts of cross-border terrorism has already been "emphatically" displayed.
Hours before taking charge, Gen Naravane gave a detailed brief on India's security challenges, including combating cross-border terrorism. He said a strategy of "resolute punitive response" was put in place to deal with Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, noting that the policy of "zero tolerance" will continue to drive counter-terror measures.
"If Pakistan does not stop its policy of state-sponsored terrorism, we reserve the right to preemptively strike at the sources of terror threat and this intent has adequately been demonstrated in our response during surgical strikes and Balakot operation," the Army Chief said.
"A new normal in our response mechanism has been emphatically underlined," he added.
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