Two suspected militants were killed on Thursday in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district, ANI reported. They belong to the Lashkar-e-Taiba, police said.

The gunfight had broken out on Wednesday night in the Baratkalan-Gund Mohalla area in Sopore after a joint team of the Army’s 22 Rashtriya Rifles, Special Operations Group and the Central Reserve Police Force launched a search operation in the area, GNS news agency reported.

The operation was halted due to darkness and it resumed on Thursday morning, Greater Kashmir quoted an unidentified official as saying.

“As the searches were going on, the search party was fired upon by the hiding terrorists,” the police said in a statement.

The militants were identified as Owais Ahmad Bhat alias Abu Bakar and Tariq Ahmad Dar alias Abu Abdullah, PTI reported. They were wanted for complicity in terror crimes including attack on security establishments and civilian atrocities, police said. Arms and ammunition were also recovered from them.

The police registered a case and have started an investigation. They have also urged residents of the area to stay away from the encounter site because of possible explosive materials there. Authorities have also halted mobile internet services in the area.