Suspected militants shot dead four police personnel in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district on Wednesday, PTI reported. They were escorting a deputy superintendent of police and had reportedly stopped at a automobile workshop near Arhama fruit market when the suspected militants fired at them from a nearby orchard.

Two of the policemen died on the spot and the other two succumbed to their injuries later at a hospital, the state police said. The deceased have been identified as Constable Javaid Ahmad Bhat, Constable Ishfaq Ahmad Mir, Constable Mohammad Iqbal Mir and 22-year-old Special Police Officer Adil Manzoor Bhat. The suspected militants took away the weapons of three of the policemen, the police said.

The security forces have launched a search-and-cordon operation and senior Army and police officials are at the spot, the Hindustan Times reported.

The attack came hours after security forces killed top Hizbul Mujahedeen commander Altaf Kachroo and his associate in bordering Anantnag.