Security forces Friday launched a massive cordon and search operation in the forest area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district, a day after five army personnel were killed and two others injured in a terrorist attack. An official said aerial monitoring is also being conducted and sniffer dogs have been pressed into service to track down the terrorists who ambushed two Army vehicles in the area Thursday afternoon.

“A massive cordon and search operation has begun this morning after a night cordon in area,” an officer told PTI.

He said that additional troops have been inducted into area to track down the terrorists involved in the firing.

On Thursday, around 3.45 pm, the two army vehicles carrying personnel to the site of a cordon-and-search operation came under attack at a blind curve at Dhatyar Morh between Dhera Ki Gali and Bufliaz under the jurisdiction of the Surankote police station, according to the officials.

The officer quoted above said the Dhera Ki Gali (DKG) Road has been closed for traffic. Top officials of army and police are monitoring in the situation at the ground.

The terrorists, believed to three to four in number, initially took position on hill tops and chose a blind curve to target the army vehicles. After the attack, they reportedly mutilated the bodies of at least two soldiers and have taken weapons of some of them, officials say. The security officials say that investigation of site is being carried out to know the pattern and use of weapons including steel core bullets in the ambush.