Four militants, including two former special police officers (SPOs), were killed by security forces in a gun battle that lasted more than 12 hours in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, CRPF confirmed on Friday.

Police confirmed the killing of the militants reportedly belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in the encounter in Lassipora, which began at 5pm on Thursday, and said they found three assault rifles from the site. They, however, did not confirm whether the SPOs were among the dead.

The SPOs had gone missing along with their weapons on Thursday from the police lines area in Pulwama district, police had said.

The encounter started on a day a territorial army soldier was killed by unidentified gunmen on Thursday at Sadoora in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

Police said gunmen fired on Manzoor Beg, who was on leave and visiting his family for Eid, and wounded him critically. Beg was rushed to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Security forces have killed 101 militants in counter-terror operations in the first five months of 2019. In 2018 and 2017, from January to May, security forces killed 70 and 57 militants, respectively.

Most counter-terror operations took place in Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag in south Kashmir, which has emerged as the hotbed of militancy.

First Published: Jun 07, 2019 08:20 IST