The Army said militant outfit Al-Badr was behind the exfiltration plot.

Hours after posing with guns on Instagram and Facebook, four fresh recruits planning to enter Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) for arms training were arrested in the frontier district of Kupwara on Sunday during an encounter.

“The four new recruits were arrested after a brief gunfight in the upper reaches of Kalaroos in the frontier Kupwara district on Sunday morning. They were attempting to exfiltrate across the Line of Control (LoC),” said Army spokesman Col. Rajesh Kalia.

The pictures of the four — Umar Bashir Sheikh (23) from Chotipora in Handwara, Danish Khazer Sheikh (22), Waseem Ahmad Khan (23) of Chotipora, Handwara and Tahir Habib Bhat of Khuru — went viral on Saturday.

The spokesman said extreme restraint was exercised and opportunity was given to the militants to surrender. “The four surrendered, while three other militants fled from the spot under cover of fire,” he said.

Al-Badr involved

According to him, Al-Badr was behind the plot. “A search operation is under way to trace those who escaped,” the spokesman said.

Official sources said the police had launched a major hunt immediately after seeing the social media pictures.

The dense forest of Nag Dagi of Kalaroos was put under siege on Saturday night “after receiving inputs about the presence of the four Handwara youth.” The operation continued till Sunday morning till the four were nabbed.

One of the four recruits was an MBA student and another had completed a paramedical diploma course.