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Updated: Jul 05, 2020 01:37 IST

Three suspected terrorists of a group of five were killed on Saturday after they took a BJP worker hostage in Batote on Jammu-Srinagar highway. They had earlier fired at security forces who cornered them after they tried to stop a vehicle probably to hijack it. The hostage, identified as Vijay Kumar Verma, booth president of the BJP has been rescued. Security forces lost a soldier in the exchange of fire and two policemen have been injured, according to defence personnel.

“All three terrorists were neutralized, but we lost a soldier and two policemen were injured in the encounter,” IGP Jammu Zone, Mukesh Singh said.

Watch | 3 suspected terrorists, who took BJP worker hostage, killed in J-K’s Ramban

He added that only three terrorists had taken the BJP worker hostage.

The standoff comes days after multiple intelligence agencies warned the government that at least 60 terrorists have infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir in the last few weeks alone and another 500 are waiting to infiltrate.

Earlier defence spokesperson Lt Col Devender Anand said, “At around 1 pm, the militants entered a house and took a BJP worker hostage.”

“So, there were five militants in that area. Three were in the house where the man was held hostage and two in the nearby forest,” he said.

The security forces were able to rescue seven people from the house in Ramban district.

On Saturday morning, at about 7:30 am, two to three suspicious men tried to stop a civil vehicle in Batote on NH 244. The driver of the vehicle was alert. He did not stop the vehicle and informed the nearest Army check post. A quick reaction team reacted promptly and chased the men, who then entered the house of the BJP worker..