Four unidentified militants were killed in an early morning encounter with security forces in south Kashmir's Shopian district on Saturday.
The encounter broke out after a joint team of Army’s 62 Rashtriya Rifles and J&K police launched a cordon-and-search-operation in Amshipora village of Shopian, 55 kms from here, on a ‘specific information’ about the presence of militants in the area.
As a joint search team of forces approached the suspected area, the hiding militants fired upon them and in the retaliatory action by the forces four militants were killed, a police official said.
However, the identity and the group affiliation of the slain militants was not known immediately.
The latest encounter came a day after the killing of three militants, including a Jaish-e-Mohammed commander believed to be an IED expert, in neighboring Kulgam district. IGP Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, termed the killing of the Jaish commander as a big success for forces.
More than 130 militants have been killed in different operations across Jammu and Kashmir this year. Those killed include top commanders of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Lashker-e-Toiba and the Jaish.
In June only 48 militants were killed, most of them in the four districts of south Kashmir, during various encounters with security forces.