Five security personnel lost their lives in a firefight with gunmen in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, confirmed a police officer on Tuesday. Militants have reportedly altered their tactics, shifting attacks from the Kashmir valley to the predominantly Hindu southern Jammu region.

The incident marks a grim escalation in violence this year, with 17 soldiers and police officers killed in the disputed Himalayan territory on the Indian side. Security forces, including the Indian army’s 16 Corps, engaged in a heavy firefight in the Doda forest area, approximately 135km southeast of Srinagar, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir.

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh condemned the attack as "cowardly," pledging to pursue the perpetrators in the forested mountains where reinforcements have been deployed.