"Three militants have been killed and searches are going on at the scene of the gunbattle," Superintendent of Police Shopian Shahid Mehraj told PTI. Acting on credible inputs about presence of militants, a joint team of Army's 53 Rashtriya Rifles, 44 Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operations Group (SOG) of local police launched a cordon-and-search operation at Chewan in Keller area of Shopian district, 70 kms from here, officials said.
They said the militants were asked to surrender but they opened indiscriminate firing at the security forces, who retaliated, triggering off a fierce gun battle. All the three militants hiding in the area were killed this morning, the officials said.
According to preliminary investigation, the slain ultras were identified as Shabir Ahmad, Arif Ahmad (both residents of Rajouri in Jammu division) and Jan Khan, a resident of Keller area, they said. The militants were affiliated to Hizbul Mujahideen outfit, the officials said.