Update on the Pulwama encounter: Two militants were killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district and a civilian died in clashes between locals and security forces following the gun-battle, officials said.


Two soldiers, including an officer, were also injured in the initial firing by the militants, they said. Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in the district's Drabgam area following information about the presence of two to three militants there, a police official said.


The official said as the security forces were closing in on their position, the militants resorted to indiscriminate firing.


Two soldiers were injured in the initial firing, an Army official said, adding that the cordon has been strengthened. The official said two militants were killed by the forces and the operation to flush out any remaining militant was on when reports last came in. One of the injured is a Major-rank officer, who has hit by a bullet in the arm. Both the injured


soldiers have been evacuated to the Army's 92 base hospital for treatment. The police official claimed that when the security forces were engaged in the gun-battle with the militants, a group of civilians started pelting stones at them to disturb the counter-insurgency operation. Several protesters were injured in retaliatory action by the security forces, one of them died due to a bullet injury to his chest, the official said. He has been identified as Shahid Ahmad Dar, the official said adding the circumstances in which the 25-year-old youth was killed are being ascertained. PTI


Image: Security forces at the encounter site at Pulwama