Acting on specific information about presence of militants in Wangat forest area, Police and troops of 24 Rashtriya Rifles launched a counter-insurgency operation, official sources said.
In the ensuing gun battle, five foreign militants were killed and a huge cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from their possession, the sources said.
They said the slain militants were identified as Abu Bakar, Abu Khalid, Murtaza, Osama and Abdul Gazi and they belonged to Hizbul Mujahideen.
The recoveries affected from the site of the encounter included five AK 47 rifles, 15 magazines, two UBGLs and hundreds of rounds of live ammunition.
Meanwhile, in another militancy-related incident, ultras fired upon a joint party of Army and police in Poshwari area of Shopian district in south Kashmir but there were no casualties reported.
The joint search party was fired upon at around 9.30 AM from an orchard but the security forces did not retaliate due to the presence of civilians, who were packing apples, the sources said.
A search operation has been launched in the area to track down the assailants, they added.
