Army troops on Sunday foiled an infiltration bid and shot dead two militants along the Line ofControl (LoC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.Troops of 5 Maratha Light Infantry (MLI) found suspicious movement between Anand and Gain forward defence posts in Sona Gali forest belt of Mankote sub-sector of Poonch district around 0045 hours, a senior Army officer told PTI.During the search of the area, they found a group of militants crossing into the Indian side and challenged them, he said, adding that the militants opened heavy fire on the troops, who retaliated resulting in a fierce gunbattle.Two militants were killed in the gunbattle which ended early on Sunday, while the others managed to escape, the officer said.Bodies of the two ultras along with their AK rifles were recovered from the spot.

"The infiltration bid has been foiled," he said adding that the troops were alert and vigilant along the border line in view of the reports that there would be an increase in infiltration attempts before the snowfall in the mountain ridges.