Two soldiers, militant commander die in Kashmir encounter

Following an information about presence of militants, the forces launched a cordon-and-search operation in Avneera village of Zainapora area of the district triggering an encounter.

"Two army jawans lost their lives and four others got injured when militants hurled grenades from a house on the search party on Saturday evening," said an army official in Srinagar.

Speaking to India Blooms, Senior Superintend of Police Shopian Ambarkar Shriram Dinkar said, "One militant was killed while three more are still inside the house and we hope the encounter will end soon."

Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Police denied that a mosque has been damaged during the encounter.

"No damage to any mosque in #Shopian. Rumour mongers trying to vitiate atmosphere. Action to be taken against such elements," said an official tweet.

Meanwhile, the stone pelting clashes were going on in the area and forces used tear smoke shells to disperse them.

In the wake of the gunfight, authorities have blocked internet services in Shopian district and other sensitive parts of south Kashmir.

Earlier, an army officer was killed while another soldier was injured when Pakistan's Border Action Team (BAT) attacked a defence post in Krishna Ghati sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Saturday.

According to officials, the BAT attacked the post at 5 pm and left two jawans injured, including one Junior Commissioned Officer.  One of them later succumbed.

The slain officer has been identified as Jagram Singh Tomar from Madhya Pradesh.

(Reporting by Saleem Iqbal Qadri)