SRINAGAR: Security forces shot dead two militants on Thursday in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir's Badgam district, triggering street protests in Badgam and Pulwama districts that left a woman badly injured, officials said.
A soldier was also injured in the gun battle. Police said in a statement that the dead militants in Bugoo village in Arizal area of Badgam were identified as Mukhtar Ahmad of Badgam and Muhammad Amin Mir of Pampore.
Arms and ammunition were recovered from the site. "They were both involved in a series of attacks on security establishments," the statement said.
The militants were killed after the security forces started a cordon and search operation following a tip-off.
"The militants fired at the security forces, triggering the gunfight," a police officer said.
As news of the killings of the militants spread, slogan-shouting civilians poured out of their homes in Arizal in Badgam and pelted security forces with stones, police sources and witnesses said.
Young men also smashed the windshield of a media OB van when reporters reached the village. Simultaneous protests broke out in Pampore town in south Kashmir's Pulwama district.
In Pampore, stone-throwing youths blocked traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu highway. Security forces used tear smoke to disperse the demonstrators.
A woman was hit by a stone on her head during the protests in Pampore town. She was shifted to a hospital, police said.
Authorities urged civilians not to venture inside the encounter zone "since such an area can prove dangerous due to stray explosive materials.
"People are requested to cooperate with police till the area is completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosives materials if any," the statement said.