Two army personnel were killed in an encounter with militants in Jammu & Kashmir’s Poonch district, officials said on Friday. The operation is still going on in a forested area in the district’s Mendhar sub-division, they said.

“In an ongoing counter-terrorism operation in the general area of Nar Khas forest in Mendhar sub-division there was an exchange of fire between army troops and militants during the evening hours of Thursday,” a defence spokesperson said. Riflemen Vikram Singh Negi, 26, and Yogambar Singh, 27, were killed in the encounter. Efforts are being made to trace a missing junior commissioned officer and the area is prone to danger, the officials said.