Srinagar, Mar 3: Two militants were killed in a 56-hour-long encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district on Sunday, officials said. The two militants were killed in the encounter, which began on Friday morning when security forces launched a search operation in Babagund area of Kupwara in north Kashmir, following information about presence of the militants there, an army official said. The identity and group affiliation of the slain militants is being ascertained, he said.

The official did not give any further details. A police spokesperson on Friday said four security force personnel two policemen and two Central Reserve Police Force men, including an inspector - were killed in the gunfight. The spokesperson said one civilian, Waseem Ahmad Mir, also sustained bullet injuries "in the nearby area" and later succumbed at a hospital. Further details of the operation are awaited.