Jammu, Jan 18 : Three army soldiers were injured on Sunday in an ongoing encounter between joint forces and terrorists in Sonar area of Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district.

Officials said that the encounter broke out after joint forces launched a CASO (Cordon and Search Operation) in the Sonar area of Chatroo in Kishtwar district following specific inputs about the presence of militants.

â??As the forces closed in, they came under fire, triggering an exchange of gunfire. During the encounter, three army soldiers sustained injuries. The injured soldiers were airlifted to a medical facility for advanced treatment," an official said.

â??Joint forces have tightened the cordon in the area while intermittent firing between the joint forces and the terrorists was continuing till last reports. Additional reinforcements have been rushed to the area to strengthen the operation," the official added.

Armyâ??s Nagrota bases White Knight corps said earlier on X, â??Operation Trashi - I. Contact was established with terrorists in the general area Son Nar, northeast of Chhatru, during a deliberate search operation conducted as part of ongoing joint counter-terror operations alongwith @JmuKmrPolice.

â??Troops displayed exceptional professionalism and resolve while responding to hostile fire under challenging terrain and conditions. Operations remain underway with additional forces inducted to reinforce the cordon, supported by close coordination with civil administration and security agencies."

Hilly districts of Jammu division including Kathua, Poonch, Rajouri, Kishtwar, Doda, Udhampur and Reasi have been on the scanner of the security forces after intelligence reports that Pakistani terrorists were moving in the highly forested mountain terrain of these districts.

A number of times, joint forces have engaged the terrorists in Kathua, Udhampur and other districts in sustained encounters, but somehow the terrorists managed to escape from the cordoned off area taking cover of the densely forested terrain and darkness during the night.

In the high level security review meeting on J&K on January 8, chaired by Union Home Minister, Amit Shah in Delhi, the presence of terrorists in the hilly districts of Jammu division was discussed threadbare.

HM Amit Shah gave clear orders that coordinated, sustained and intelligence backed operations must be carried out to eliminate terrorists from the mountainous areas and also ensure zero infiltration of terrorists from across the line of control (LoC) and the international border (IB) in J&K.

The LoC is 740-Km long and the IB is 240-Km long in J&K. The army guards the LoC while the border security force (BSF) guards the IB.

LoC is situated in Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora districts of the Valley and partly in Jammu district. The IB is situated in Samba, Kathua and Jammu districts of Jammu division.

/IANS