The shooting incident took place in the Hindu-dominated part of Kashmir. Officials say militants have made a “tactical shift” and moved operations to the region due to the more relaxed security measures there.
At least four Indian soldiers, including an officer, were killed in a gunfight with suspected rebels in an Indian-administered district in the disputed Kashmir region, the army said on Tuesday.
The shooting took place in the forests of the Doda district in the Jammu Division.
Another police officer also died later due to his wounds, the French AFP news agency cited an anonymous security source as saying.
The attack comes a day after the Indian army said it killed three suspected militants as they tried to cross from the Pakistan-controlled side of the highly-militarized dividing line.
Security forces had launched an operation some 135 kilometers (85 miles) southeast of the territory’s capital Srinagar in the Jammu area on Monday evening. Militants ambushed the patrolling team, military officials said, with a firefight ensuing.
The soldiers “laid down their lives in the line of duty, while undertaking a counter terrorist operation in Doda in order to ensure peace in the region,” the Indian military said.
Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh said he was “anguished to learn about the cowardly attack” on the soldiers and police who had made the “supreme sacrifice.”
