Army troops fired at three Pakistan-occupied Kashmir residents on theLine of Control in Jammu’s Poonch sector early on Sunday morning, killing one and apprehending “alive” the other two, a defence spokesperson said.

He said the three men were part of a “narco-terror” group but referred to them as “intruders” and not “terrorists”.

No weapons were found on them but 17kg of narcotics and Pakistani currency were recovered, army sources said.

The defence spokesperson said that troops had observed suspicious movement close to the LoC around 10.15pm on Saturday.

“Around midnight, the group crossed the Line of Control and started infiltrating (into the Indian side)…. Alert troops kept the movement of the infiltrating group under continuous observation,” he said.

Around 2am, “as the group approached the fence”, Indian troops challenged them, the defence spokesperson said.

As the intruders began running away, the troops fired and killed one of them “while the other two managed to run into the jungle taking advantage of the thick foliage and rocky outcrop”.

The area was cordoned off to prevent escape across the LoC. After the search resumed at first light on Sunday, the body of “one intruder” was recovered. Another was apprehended “alive in wounded condition”.

“In the subsequent search, the third intruder was also apprehended alive,” the defence spokesperson said.

“During preliminary questioning, the two intruders who have been apprehended alive claimed that they (all three) were residents of Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir and belong to Maidan Mohalla, village Chanjal.”

The defence spokesperson added that had the infiltration bid succeeded, it could have disturbed peace in the districts of Poonch and Rajouri.