Two militants and a soldier were killed on Friday in a gunfight with the government forces in North Kashmir's Bandipora district.The police said troops of the 13 Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operations Group (SOG) surrounded Manzpora village on Thursday night following information about the militants' presence.With the break of dawn, the flushing out operation was started when the hiding militants opened indiscriminate fire causing critical injuries to a soldier, who later succumbed," a senior police officer said. The officials said that two militants were killed in retaliatory fire.Reports said that shortly after the encounter, a large number of people hit to roads and staged pro-freedom protest. The protesters demanded the bodies of militants killed in the encounter. Sensing trouble, the bodies of the militants were shifted to police station Sumbal and were not handed over to the locals, who wished to perform their last rites.SDPO Sumbal Rashid Akbar told CNS that both the bodies were taken to Uri Baramulla. “The bodies were handed over to the local Auqaf Committee that performed the last rites of the slain militants,” he said.Meanwhile, government forces apprehended a militant during a joint operation in Sopore town of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district. A senior police official said that a search operation was launched in Tujjar Sharief village after inputs about the presence of militants.A militant, identified as Abdul Majeed Mir was apprehended during the operation, said the official. Arms and ammunition were recovered from his possession, he said. Sources said that Majeed had reportedly joined Lashkar-e-Toiba a month ago. (CNS)