Four militants were killed in two separate gunfights with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara and Kulgam districts on Sunday, the police said.

One of the two militants killed in Kupwara is a Pakistani and associated with the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group, Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar said. The identity of the second militant was being ascertained.

On Sunday, the Kupwara Police launched a joint operation along with the Army’s 28 RR battalion after an arrested militant, Showket Ahmed Sheikh, disclosed a location where others were hiding.

The security forces subsequently cordoned off Lolab area.

Militants, who were hiding, fired upon the joint search parties, Kumar said. After the Army retaliated, one militant was killed and Sheikh got trapped.

“Two to three more terrorists alongwith arrested terrorist [Showket Sheikh] trapped in ongoing encounter,” Kumar said.

Meanwhile, two more militants were killed in another gunfight in Kulgam district in South Kashmir.

One of those killed was identified as Haris Sharief, a resident of Srinagar, who is linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror outfit. Another is Zakir Padder, a Kulgam resident, who is associated with the Jaish-e-Mohammad group, Kumar said.

The police and the Army are deployed in the Damhal Hanji Pora area. The gunfight is still underway.

On Wednesday, two Lashkar-e-Taiba militants were killed in an overnight gunfight.

One of them, Jan Mohammad Lone, was involved in the killing of a bank manager named Vijay Kumar in Kulgam on June 2.

Kumar, a resident of Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh city, was shot inside the premises of the Ellaquai Dehati Bank. He had succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital. The incident was recorded on CCTV.