A special police officer was killed in a fierce gunbattle between security forces and terrorists in the dense forests of Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir last night as the standoff continued for the third day today (January 4).Two army personnel have succumbed to bullet wounds in the operations that started on Thursday evening leaving four terrorists dead.

Special Police Officer Naresh Kumar was killed in the encounter between the militants and the security forces forces in the forest area of Mendhar in Poonch district, Defence sources said.

The Bhati Dhar forest of Mendhar area has been cordoned off by the forces which are also being assisted by Special Operation Group of police as the encounter continued till late tonight.

JCO Rakesh Kumar and Naik PK Singh were killed in the exchange of fire earlier.

The encounter started on Thursday when army troops and the special operation group of state police jointly launched a search operation in the forest area following intelligence inputs of presence of militants in a hideout there, a police spokesman said.The security forces suspect that six militants are holed up in the forest.

The operation against the militants has been hampered by dense forests and heavy fog in the area, defence spokesman SN Acharya said.

Timeline: Encounter at Poonch

The encounter in the dense forest of Poonch have today entered the third day, since it started late on Thursday. Here’s the timeline of the encounter.

6pm Thursday 1, Jan ‘09: Encounter begins between the army and militants in remote forest area

7pm Thursday 1, Jan ‘09: 2 jawans killed in the firing between army & militants

8pm Thursday 1, Jan ‘09: Army tightens its grip, surrounds militants in the area

9:30pm Thursday 1, Jan ‘09: Army kills three militants

Friday 2, Jan ‘09: Militants continue to resist army, fighting continues through the day

Saturday 3, Jan ‘09: More than 36 hours later, standoff continues between the army and militants