Srinagar: Three suspected militants were gunned down today July 28 during an encounter with security forces in the higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmir’s capital Srinagar.

An army spokesperson said that three suspected militants were killed in an “intense firefight” in the general area of Lidwas which is located in the higher reaches of Harwan-Mulnar area on the outskirts of Srinagar district.

The firefight ensued this morning after a joint team of J&K Police and army which was carrying out searches in the area came under heavy fire, prompting retaliatory firing by the forces, reports said.

Security forces had launched a search operation following intelligence inputs about suspicious movement in the region whose rugged terrain and dense vegetation offers an ideal transit route for militants to move from south to central Kashmir.

Some mountain trails in the area where the encounter took place lead to the Amarnath shrine where more than 3.7 lakh Hindu devotees have paid obeisance amid the ongoing pilgrimage.

The annual pilgrimage is this year being held under the shadow of the Pahalgam terrorist attack and the government has deployed thousands of troops to secure the cave shrine.

The army spokesperson said that the operation in Lidwas was underway amid apprehensions of the presence of more suspects in the area.

The encounter broke out two days after a group of tribal men living in a seasonal habitation in Dhagwan area, which is not far from the site of the ongoing encounter, alleged that they were beaten up by an army official on the charges of providing food and shelter to militants.

The army has not however pressed any formal charges against any of the men who suffered injuries of various degrees in the thrashing.

Proscribed militant groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and their affiliate groups have turned the girdle of mountains circling the Kashmir valley into an active battleground by inflicting heavy casualties on security forces there in the years after Article 370 was read down.

Following the Pahalgam terrorist attack on April 22 this year, the Pir Panjal range of mountains, Lidder Valley and Sindh Valley of Kashmir have been closed by security agencies for trekking and other adventure activities while the army and other agencies have stepped up search operations in these regions to flush out any suspects.

The Lidwas operation follows a brief lull in firefights between security forces and militants in Jammu and Kashmir in the aftermath of ‘Operation Sindoor’ when India targeted several terrorist bases in Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan in May this year to avenge the Pahalgam carnage.

The last encounter from J&K was reported from south Kashmir in May this year.

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