J&K
The operation turned into a gunfight after the militants opened fire at the security forces in the early hours of Tuesday.

Two militants were gunned down in an encounter that broke out between security forces and militants in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district, on Tuesday, June 11. The militants belong to Ansar Ghazwatul Hind (AGH) outfit, according to the police.

"The slain militants have been identified as Shakir Ahmad of Shopian and Sayar Bhat of Kulgam district. Both of them were affiliated with AGH outfit," the police reportedly said.

The security forces launched a search and cordon operation in Anweera area of Shopian on Monday evening, after receiving a tip-off about militants being present in the area. The operation turned into a gunfight after the militants opened fire at the security forces in the early hours of Tuesday.

"When challenged today morning, the hiding militants opened fire, triggering an encounter in which two militants were killed," police was quoted as saying in an IANS report.

Although the firing has stopped, the search operation is still underway.

The AGH chief Zakir Musa was killed by security forces in Dadsara village of Pulwama area on May 24 this year. He was a close associate of Burhan Wani who was killed in 2017, was a militant of Hizbul Mujahideen who succeeded Burhan and later headed the Al Qaeda affiliate AGH. He had taken to militancy in 2013.

The killing of Zakir Musa was seen as a big success for the security forces in their anti-militancy operations in Kashmir.