Two more militants killed in Handwara encounter

SRINAGAR: Two more militants were today killed by security forces on the second day of an encounter in Handwara area of north Kashmir's Kupwara district.

A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) of Army had lost his life while an unidentified militant was killed yesterday in the encounter that broke out when militants fired upon a joint search party of army and police in Waderbala forests near village Petta.

"Two more militants have been killed in the encounter which began yesterday morning," Ghulam Hassan Bhat, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, north Kashmir Range, told PTI today.

However, he said, there were no fresh causalities to the security forces.

The security forces had launched a search operation on Monday night after receiving specific information about the presence of militants in the forests.

The militants opened fire on the search party at 0645 hours on Tuesday, drawing retaliation, police said.

In the ensuing gunfire, a militant was killed and an army JCO was injured. The JCO was evacuated from the site but later succumbed to his injuries.

Search operation was going on till last reports came in.