Jammu: Five Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) militants including a platoon commander of the outfit were killed and a huge cache of Arms seized in a fierce gunbattle with security personnel in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir today (Feb 28, 2004), official sources said.

Acting on an intelligence input about the presence of a terrorist training camp in Dara Sangla forest belt in Poonch district, the security forces cordoned off the area this morning, the sources said.

When the militants hiding there lobbed grenades and opened fire, the security forces retaliated and in the ensuing gunbattle five militants including Abu Fakri, a self-styled platoon commander of LeT, were killed.

The operation was still on and two more militants are hiding in the area, they said.

Identities of other slain militants are being ascertained, they said adding five AK rifles, two pistols, 17 magazines, 318 rounds, nine grenades, four IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) and some other materials have been recovered so far.

Elsewhere, in an apparent case of revenge killing, one Hizbul Mujahideen militant identified as Mohmmad Sharief was killed by LeT ultras in Mahore forest area of Udhampur district last night (Feb 27, 2004), sources said.

Sharief had allegedly killed two close relatives of a LeT commander in Mahore a fortnight ago, they said adding he was killed to avenge the deaths.