Security forces killed three suspected militants in Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam district on Monday, the police said. Arms and ammunition were recovered from the militants, and their identities and affiliations were being ascertained, they added.

The Army, the state police’s Special Operations Group and the Central Reserve Police Force cordoned off the Charar-i-Sharief area in Budgam following inputs about the presence of militants, and then conducted a search operation, Global News Service quoted an unidentified police officer as saying. As the team intensified its combing operations, the militants opened fire, the officer added.

“So far one body has been recovered along with arms and ammunition the other two bodies which are lying inside the hideout are yet to be retrieved,” the officer said. He claimed that the militants belonged to the Hizbul Mujahideen group.

One of the suspected militants was identified as Shahid Baba, a resident of Drabgam in Pulwama district, the news agency reported.

This encounter came days after suspected militants carried out three grenade attacks, two in Srinagar and one in Shopian. Three police officers were wounded in the January 17 attack in Srinagar.