4 soldiers killed in Jammu and Kashmir gunfight

Four soldiers were killed in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, police said on Monday.

The gunfight started late Sunday night after security forces, including the Rashtriya Rifles (RR), Special Operations Group (SOG) of the state police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), surrounded Pinglena village upon receiving a tip off that Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM)militants were hiding in the area.

"As the cordon was tightened, the holed-up militants fired triggering the gunfight," police sources said, adding that a search operation is ongoing at the site. The victims included an officer.

The gunfight comes less than a week after 49 CRPF troopers were killed on February 14 after their convoy was targeted by a JeM suicide bomber on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama.

According to the police sources, Sunday night's gunfight site is some 10 km away from the suicide attack spot.