Two militants were killed in an encounter at Drabgam village of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district. Gunfight erupted between militants and Government Forces after a five hour long siege when armed militants fired upon the search party during the intervening night of Thursday and Friday.A police official said that based on a credible input about the presence of militants in Drabgam area of District Pulwama, a cordon and search operation was launched during the intervening night jointly by Police and security forces in the area.As the searches were going on, the search party was fired upon by the militants. The fire was retaliated leading to a gunfight.In the ensuing encounter, two militants were killed and the bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter.The killed militants have been identified as Shahid Mushtaq Baba son of Mushtaq Ahmed Baba resident of Drabgam Pulwama and Inayat Abdullah Zigar son of Mohammad Abdullah Zigar resident of Arihal Pulwama.The slain militants were affiliated with militant outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad.As per police records, Shahid Baba was active in Shopian and Pulwama areas and had a long history of militancy related records for which several militant cases were registered against him. “He was involved in conspiring and executing several militant attacks on security establishments in the area including grenade attacks,” said the police official.Another militant Inayat Ahmed according to police was an active supporter of militant activities of JeM for a long time though he joined the outfit as active cadre very recently.A residential house was damaged in the encounter. “It was a clean operation and no collateral damage took place during the encounter,” said the official adding that arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of encounter. “All these materials have been taken in case records for further investigation and probe their complicity in other militant cases.”The police official requested people 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 explosive materials if any.” Meanwhile, thousands of people participated in the last rites of these two slain militant while Pulwama district observed a complete shutdown to mourn these killings. (CNS)