The operation is still in progress, a police official said. (Representational image)
Two Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists were killed in an overnight encounter with security forces in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Thursday.
The security forces launched a cordon and search operation at Kandipora in Bijbehara area of the district on Wednesday following information about presence of militants there, a police official said.
"During the search operation, as the presence of terrorists got ascertained they were given opportunity to surrender. However, they fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party, which was retaliated, leading to an encounter," the official said.
Due to darkness, the operation was suspended on Wednesday evening but the cordon remained intact throughout the night, he said.
"Today in the morning, repeated announcements were again made to hiding terrorists to surrender, but the terrorists fired on joint search party and the fire was retaliated resulting in the elimination of two hiding terrorists," he added.
The terrorists have been identified as Adil Ahmad Bhat and Zahid Ahmad Rather. They were affiliated with proscribed outfit JeM.
As per police records, the official said both the terrorists were involved in several terror crime cases, including attacks on security forces and civilian atrocities.
"Incriminating materials, including arms & ammunition, were recovered from the site of encounter. All the recovered material has been taken into case records for further investigation," he added.
Two terrorists have been killed so far and they are yet to be identified. The operation is still in progress, he said.