Two militants and a Central Reserve Police Force jawan were killed in a gunbattle in Shalteng in Parampora area near Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, PTI reported, citing the police. The CRPF jawan was identified as Rajeev Ranjan.

The encounter began after three militants on a bike opened fire on CRPF personnel posted at a mobile checking unit in the area. The two militants were killed in retaliatory firing, said the police. The third militant was captured in an injured condition when he was trying to flee.

There has been an increase in the number of encounters between suspected militants and security forces in the last one week. On Sunday, four people, including two security personnel, were injured in a grenade attack by suspected militants in Srinagar’s Lal Chowk area. On January 31, three suspected militants were killed in an encounter with security forces near Nagrota on Jammu-Srinagar national highway. This was the first terror attack in Jammu since Article 370, which granted special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, was revoked on August 5 last year.

Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Dilbag Singh said there are reports that VPN [virtual private network] is being misused, reported ANI. “For example, the truck driver [involved in Bann toll plaza encounter on January 31] first clicked photograph of encounter and sent it to Pakistan as an evidence that they have been intercepted,” he said. “Such use and misuse is happening.”

An unidentified CRPF spokesperson said there were intelligence inputs that militants would try to strike security installations ahead of the seventh death anniversary of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Security personnel had been asked to remain on high alert from February 8 to February 14. Guru was hanged on February 9, 2013. February 11 marks the death anniversary of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front founder Maqbool Bhat, who was hanged in 1984. February 14 is the first anniversary of the Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.