Army officer, policeman killed in Kashmir gun battle

Jammu: An Indian Army officer and a policeman were killed and four soldiers injured in a shoot out that erupted in a frontier district of Jammu and Kashmir Sunday, defence sources said.

The sources said Major Bhanu Partap of 43 Rashtriya Rifles and Sanjeev of Kashmir police were killed while fighting heavily armed militants hiding in the Bangai forests in Thana Mandi area of Rajouri district, about 190 kms north of Jammu.

Four soldiers were wounded in the gun battle, which, according to defence spokesperson Lt. Col. SD Goswami, was on when reports last came in.

The sources said the militants were using automatic assault rifles and grenades to ward off the joint raid launched by the army and the Jammu and Kashmir police.

The army attributes the sudden spurt in clashes with the militants in Jammu and Kashmir to the recent rise in infiltration from across the Line of Control, a de- facto border that divides the state between India and Pakistan.