Five infiltrators have been shot dead by Border Security Force (BSF) troops from 103 Battalion during an encounter along the Indo-Pak border in Punjab early on Saturday morning.

This has been confirmed by the BSF Punjab Frontier on its Twitter handle on Saturday.

“Alert troops of 103 Bn #BSF noticed suspicious movement of intruders violating IB. Upon being challenged to stop, intruders fired upon #BSF troops who retaliated in self defence. Resultantly, 05 intruders were shot,” BSF Punjab Frontier tweeted.

BSF Punjab Frontier also said intensive search operations are underway.

A media report quoted officials as saying that the infiltrators were trying to enter the Indian side through the Khemkaran border area in Tarn Taran district when they were spotted by a BSF patrol team.

“Upon being challenged to stop, the intruders fired upon the troops who retaliated in self defence. Five intruders were killed in the gunfight,” the officials claimed.

According the report, the BSF troops first noticed suspicious activity at the international border around midnight.

The BSF troops from 103 Battalion launched a “focussed” surveillance on the intruders in the border and set up multiple ambushes.

The report quoted a BSF official as saying that the contact was established around 4:45 am, just behind the international border fence.

The officials said the intruders, who were armed with rifles, were trying to sneak into Indian soil with the aid of tall grass.

However, the alert BSF troops spoiled the intrusion bid and shot dead 5 of the intruders.