On the fifth day of Mendhar encounter, which has become one of the longest gunbattles between the security forces and the terrorists in Jammu region, two more Army personnel, including one junior commissioned officer (JCO) and a jawan, on Saturday got wounded.
Sources maintained that a sniffer dog, part of the dog squad pressed into service to track down the holed up ultras in the thick forested area, too sustained injuries in the operation in Beri Rakh forests in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district.
So far the forces have lost one Major Amit K. Thenge and 11 Army personnel including one colonel and a JCO have sustained injuries, two of them critically in this operation.
JCO, who had sustained serious injuries, was shifted to the Command Hospital Udhampur while jawan was recuperating in the unit hospital.
Injured Sniffer dog too has been shifted to the dog unit Rajouri for treatment.
Meanwhile, the forces have apprehended two dreaded LeT militants from Kishtwar district in the past 24 hours besides recovering a huge cache of arms and ammunition from Rajouri and Ramban districts in two separate operations.
Regarding Mendhar encounter, a senior Army officer informed that JCO and jawan got injured when the contact with the terrorists was established this morning. The gunbattle is still raging in the dense forest where it is believed that two to three militants are hiding.
However, in the adjoining border district Rajouri, in a major breakthrough, a joint column of the Army and J&K police apprehended a very high ranking and hardcore LeT terrorist named Mohammed Shafi Pathan in the area of Chukron, Patnazi on Saturday morning.
The captured terrorist was found in possession of one AK 56 rifle, three AK magazines along with 90 rounds of ammunition and one radio-set. The individual was also in possession of one SIM card of Pakistan origin.
He was apprehended on the inputs provided by another LeT ultra Nazir Ahmed who was arrested on Friday from Thathri. From his possession one AK rifle, two magazines along with 50 rounds of AK ammunition were recovered.