TWO JAISH MILITANTS KILLED

SRINAGAR: Two suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad militants were killed in a gunbattle that started when security forces were carrying out door-to-door searches in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district overnight Thursday, officials said on Friday.

Indian Army soldiers and Jammu and Kashmir police’s special operation group members were engaged in the search operation being conducted under floodlights at Drabgam in the Rajpora area when the firefight broke out, one official said. The encounter started at around midnight when the militants opened fire at the security forces. A self-loading rifle and a pistol were recovered. Following the encounter, mobile internet services were snapped in Pulwama and Shopian districts. Acting on credible information about the presence of the militants in Drabgam, the joint army-police team launched the cordon-and-search operation in the area, a police spokesman said, adding: “Two militants were killed in the encounter.’’ Police identified the slain militants as Shahid Mushtaq Baba of Drabgam, Pulwama and Inayat Abdullah Zigar of Arihal ,Pulwama.