An army operation to flush out militants in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district on Monday went horribly wrong after the troops got caught in an ambush leaving a junior commissioned officer and four jawans dead.

Three slain soldiers were from Punjab, one from Uttar Pradesh and one from Kerala.

Official sources identified the deceased soldiers as Naib Subedar Jaswinder Singh, Naik Mandeep Singh, Sepoy Gajjan Singh, all from Punjab, Sepoy Saraj Singh from Uttar Pradesh and Sepoy Vaisakh H. Kottarakara from Kerala.

The gunfight, the deadliest in Jammu and Kashmir this year, has come amid an alarming surge in militancy in Jammu’s Pir Panjal region, which includes Poonch and Rajouri districts, in recent months.

The border region, which was largely calm for nearly two decades, has seen at least half a dozen gunfights in the last few months.

The army said the five soldiers died in a gunfight in Dera Ki Gali area of Poonch’s Surankote that began early on Monday. Reinforcements were rushed in to comb a large forest area where the militants are believed to be hiding.

The defence spokesman in Jammu said an operation was launched early on Monday following intelligence inputs about the presence of militants in villages close to Dera Ki Gali.

“The encounter with terrorists is going on. In the ensuing firefight during the ongoing encounter with terrorists, one JCO and four jawans suffered critical injuries. The critically injured were evacuated to the nearest medical facility but succumbed to their injuries,” the spokesman said.

Defence sources said the militants ambushed the jawans as they were heading towards their hideout.

“They (militants) were apparently watching the movement. An intense fire came from all sides and they succeeded in causing heavy casualties,” a source said.

The forces had a tough time evacuating the injured as militants took advantage of the thick foliage to continue firing. The militants later escaped through the forest but efforts were underway to hunt them down.

Later in the day, a fresh contact was established in Bhangai village of adjoining Rajouri, several kilometres away from the site of earlier clash, where militants are said to have fled.

The security forces believe the militants had freshly infiltrated across the border and were apparently heading towards the Valley.

The Line of Control in Pir Panjal region has seen multiple infiltration bids in recent months, giving a peek into how Pakistan has stepped up its activities after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

The militants are increasingly targeting the minorities in the Valley with three men, including a Kashmiri Pandit and a Sikh woman, falling to the bullets of militants.

The forces have detained some 900 people in the Valley in an unprecedented crackdown seeking to nab the killers, although their families alleged they are being targeted when they have no links with the attacks.

In previous five gunfights in the Poonch-Rajouri belt, three armymen and seven militants have lost their lives.