Today's operation was the first encounter in Kulgam district after a gap of 11 months.

Four Hizb-ul- Mujahideen militants were killed and a house was damaged in an operation by security forces in south Kashmir’s Kulgam on Saturday.

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Three militants were killed earlier in the day and the body of the fourth was recovered from the debris of the house, where the militants were holed up, a Srinagar based spokesman said.

“All the four militants were surrounded by a joint search party of the Army, the police and the CRPF on Saturday morning in Man Gori village of Khul Batpora area of Kulgam. When the militants were challenged, they opened fire. In the exchange of fire, they were killed,” the police said.

Locals said the militants were killed in a blast detonated by the security forces that razed the house to the ground. “Two houses belonging to Maqsood Ahmed Lone and Bilal Ahmed Lone were heavily damaged,” they added.

Two security personnel were also injured in the gunfight, the police said.

Today's operation was the first encounter in Kulgam district after a gap of 11 months. The police said these militants were behind the killing of four civilians-in Kulgam in the past 15 days.

The slain militants were identified as Shahid Sadiq alias Azan, Waqar Itoo, Ajaz Naiko alias Musa and Ashraf Malik alias Saddam. “Shaid had joined the militant ranks on April 8, 2019, Sadiq and Waqar in 2019, while Ajaz Nayak joined militancy 21 months ago,” the police said.