Three militants from Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit were killed during a pre-dawn encounter by security forces in the Tral area of south Kashmir's Pulwama district on Saturday. According to reports, the gun fight occurred in the wee hours of Saturday after the Army and J&K police closed off the Nagbaeran woodland region of Tral following a tip about the presence of militants there. The firing started after militants fired upon the search party of the security forces. The police said that three militants were encountered and three AK rifles were recovered from them.

"#TralEncounterUpdate: 03 unidentified #terrorist affiliated with proscribed #terror outfit JeM killed. #Search going on. Further details shall follow (sic)," J&K police tweeted.

Earlier on Friday, two militants of the Hizbul Mujahideen outfit were killed in the Khrew area of Pulwama district.

Since the beginning of the year, over 100 militants, as well as 21 security forces and J&K police personnel, have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir. In July, most militants (31) were killed, including several top Lashkar-e-Taiba commanders.

Among the 100 militants killed in J&K this year, only 11 are Pakistanis, while the rest are all locals. Despite the fact that there has been almost no infiltration this year, the Army believes that there are still 200-225 militants active across J&K. The official data says that 82 locals joined militancy in the first seven months of 2021 and 88 ultras were encountered in the same period.