Two Hizbul Mujahideen militants, a soldier and a cop killed in Kashmir's Pulwama

Two Hizbul Mujahideen militants, a soldier and a policeman were killed in a fierce encounter between security forces and ultras in south Kashmir's Pulwama district on Tuesday.

A police official said the encounter broke out after a joint team of army’s 50 Rashtriya Rifles (RR), and special operations group (SOG) of J&K police laid a siege at Zantrag, Khrew in Pulwama, 24 km from here early morning.

“Till 12 noon, there was no exchange of fire. When the security forces zeroed in on the suspected area, the hiding militants opened fire at the forces triggering of an encounter," he said and added in the initial exchange of fire, a soldier and a policeman were hit by bullets.

The injured were immediately shifted to hospital, where they succumbed to their injuries, the official said. The slain soldier was identified as Rahul of 50-RR and policeman as Shahbaz Ahmed.

He said two militants were killed so far in the encounter which was going on till late in the evening. However, the bodies of the militants were not recovered as firing in the area was going on, the official added.

The latest encounter comes just a day after three Hizbul militants, including a police deserter, who had fled with seven rifles in 2018, were killed in a similar gunfight with security forces in neighbouring Shopian district on Monday.

On January 12, three more Hizbul militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in Pulwama district. Earlier on January 7, a teenage militant, who had joined the militancy just a week before was killed in an encounter in Awantipora.

In the first 21 days of this year, 10 militants have been killed across J&K in five encounters. While nine of the ultras were killed in twin districts of Shopian and Pulwama, the other one was eliminated in Doda district of Jammu region.

J&K police chief Dilbagh Singh on Monday said that Hizbul was fast losing ground in south Kashmir as many of its top commanders have been killed in the last few weeks. "Hizbul is about to disappear from south Kashmir turf. Anti-militancy operations in south Kashmir districts will be intensified. The year 2020 has started on a good note as far as anti-militancy operations were concerned,” the police chief said.