Rajouri (J-K), Nov 23 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Ravinder Raina on Thursday reached the Bajimaal area in Rajouri where five army personnel were killed in an encounter with terrorists and said a major conspiracy was hatched from across the border to attack the security forces.

He interacted with the locals and enquired about the security forces' cordon-and-search operation.

'A major conspiracy has been hatched again in Rajouri. As per reports, a group of terrorists infiltrated from across the border and took shelter in the dense forest areas. As the security forces began the operation, they came under intense firing in which some officers and jawans achieved martyrdom,' Raina told reporters at the site.

He condemned Pakistan's action of carrying out an 'ambush' through its terrorists on the Indian Army personnel in the area.

'We condemn it. Some of our army personnel achieved martyrdom in an ambush laid by the terrorists,' Raina said.

Calling it to be a heartening incident, the BJP leader said, 'Some people don't want peace and normalcy to prevail. They want to derail the movement of development. They want to trigger fear of psychosis. We have jointly fought them and failed them.' Raina also encouraged the local people to support the initiative of the armed forces and the government to eliminate terrorism and its infrastructure in the region.

Two terrorists, including a top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander trained in Afghanistan, and a soldier were killed in a gunfight during the operation by security forces in Rajouri district on Thursday.

With the soldier's death, the number of army personnel killed in the anti-terror operation that began on Wednesday in the Dharmsal belt's Bajimaal area has increased to five.

On Wednesday, four army personnel, including two captains, were killed and two others injured in the operation against the terrorists in the Bajimaal area following a cordon-and-search operation. PTI AB AS AB AS KVK KVK