A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) of the Army's special forces laid down his life on Sunday, while three more soldiers were injured in a gunfight with terrorists in a remote forest area in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district, officials said.

The operation comes amid an intensified hunt underway since the killing of two Village Defence Guards (VDGs) recently.

The Army identified the fallen hero as Naib Subedar Rakesh Kumar of 2 Para and saluted his supreme sacrifice.

The encounter broke out around 11 am when joint search parties of the Army and police intercepted the terrorists in the Keshwan forest, a few kilometres from the spot where the bullet-riddled bodies of VDGs Nazir Ahmad and Kuldeep Kumar were found.

A massive search operation was launched in the forests of Kuntwara and Keshwan on Thursday evening after the terrorists abducted and killed the VDGs.

The Army's Jammu-based White Knight Corps said in a post on X, "Based on specific intelligence input regarding the presence of terrorists, a joint operation was launched by security forces in general area Bhart Ridge, Kishtwar. This is the same group which had abducted and killed 02 (two) innocent villagers (village defence guards). Contact was established and firefight ensued." The officials said four Army personnel, including the JCO, were injured in the initial gunfight and evacuated to a hospital, where the condition of three of them was stated to be "critical". The JCO later succumbed to injuries.

"GOC (General Officer Commanding) White knight Corps and all ranks salute the supreme sacrifice of braveheart, Nb Sub Rakesh Kumar of 2 Para (SF). Sub Rakesh was part of a joint CI (counter-insurgency) operation launched in general area of Bhart Ridge Kishtwar. We stand with bereaved family in this hour of grief," the Army said in its latest tweet.

Earlier, a police spokesperson also confirmed that an encounter was underway with the terrorists responsible for the killing of the two VDGs.

"Three or four terrorists are believed to be trapped in the area," the official said.

The officials said a massive search operation was going on till the last reports were received.

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