Acting on a tip off, troops of 17 Rastriya Rifles cordoned off Trothil forest belt in Kishtwar district and took the two hiding militants in the area by surprise, Public Relation Officer (PRO) Defence, Col R K Palta told PTI.
A fierce gunbattle battle broke out in the area around 0930 hours after troops challenged the militants.
The encounter continued for over three hours in which two militants were killed, Col Palta said.
The killed militants have been identified as 25-year-old Amir Ali and Mohmmad Shafi alias Sakib, he said, adding that an AK rifle and a pistol have been recovered from encounter spot.
"Amir Ali is the prime accused in the Delhi High Court blast," Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Kishtwar-Doda-Ramban range, Gareeb Dass told PTI.
"He was a top militant of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. It is a big achievement", Dass said.
NIA and State Police had launched several operations in Kishtwar hills, particularly in Madwa, Dachhan area to track down three Hizb militants -Amir Ali Kamal alias Amir alias Akram, Junaid Akram Malik alias Juni alias Umair and Shakir Hussain Sheikh alias Chota Hafiz alias Adil involved in the Delhi High Court blast.
The trio was allegedly involved in the Delhi HC blast on September 7 last year in which 15 people were killed and 50 injured.
On October 25 last year, the National Investigating Agency (NIA) had issued a notice and announced Rs 10 lakh for information leading to their arrests.
As per the NIA notice, they were allegedly involved in the HC blast in Delhi and several other related cases in Kishtwar region also. They allegedly played a crucial role in the conspiracy which led to the blast in Delhi High Court, it said. MORE
