Army on Wednesday said that it was planning a final assault to neutralise the terrorists holed up in Bhati Dar in Poonch where an encounter between the ultras and security forces has been on for a week now.

The operation has been "slow" in the area to minimise the casualties among the security forces, Lt Col ASN Acharya said here.

The spokesman said that firing took place at two places in the area around 0630 hours and 0930 hours today and it was effectively retaliated by the troops.

Bad weather and the hilly terrain of the area were acting as constraints for the army, he said, adding some food items and radio sets have been recovered since yesterday from the caves where the militants were holed up.

While three security force personnel have laid down their lives during the operation, four ultras are presumed dead. The bodies of the terrorists have not been recovered so far, he said.

JeM militants

The militants are suspected to be from Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group, army today said, but did not specify any time frame for flushing them out.

"The holed up militants, who have been exchanging fire with the security forces for the last one week, seem to be from JeM based on the intercepts that we have got," Brigadier General Staff Brig Gurdeep Singh told reporters here.

Unlike operation 'Sarp Nash' in 2003 during which security forces had come across bunkers built by militants, Brig Singh said in the current operation, there were no such reports of bunkers being set up by the ultras in the forest area.

The militants were using natural caves with rocks around them as hideouts in the region, he said.

Replying to questions on the operation that began on January 1, he said, "it is not possible to specify as of now how long the operation will last."

The officer said the undulating forest terrain in the region and the weather were acting as major constraints for the army in flushing them out.

"We are carrying out a deliberate operation to wear out the terrorists and to ensure that the casualties among our own forces are avoided. That's why we are taking time to eliminate the terrorists holed up here," Singh added.

Strongly denying reports that there were 1,500 troops deployed in the operation, the Brigadier said that there were just about 350 men on the ground as of now battling the terrorists.

Satisfactory progress

On whether more troops from specialised forces such as the National Security Guards would be joining the operation, Brig Singh said he had enough men to do the job and the troops were doing well.

Army also said it suspected militants to be still holed up in the forests as two small arm shots had been fired by the militants since this morning from different spots in the operational area.

"There are militants holed up there. We know it from the gun shots yesterday and today. It would not be right to guess their number at this point," he said.

Maintaining that the army had busted a couple of caves, where the militants were hiding during the operation, he said they had recovered some ammunition, rocket propelled grenades, some ration and a radio set from the busted hideouts.

"This is not the only operation in the area. We have witnessed several other operations too and the army has eliminated militants before also," he said.

Pointing out that militants have been very active in the this area, he said there were reports of some local support, but it could be due to duress. "The police have arrested a couple of over ground workers of the terror groups recently," he said.

On the recovery of GI sheets from the militants, Singh said these were used to cover the openings to the caves, where they were hiding, so as to protect them from the weather.

"There were no bunkers, but only caves in which a couple of GI sheets were used to cover the opening," he said.