3 militants killed in Kashmir

Security forces shot dead three militants in two separate encounters while militants made an abortive bid to attack a security picket with a grenade in the Kashmir Valley, official sources said on Wednesday.

Militants hurled a grenade on a security picket at Saraf Kadal in downtown Srinagar on Monday night, the police said.

But the device fell short of the intended target and no one was injured.

Police said two unidentified militants were killed in a gunfight during a joint search party of police and Central security forces at Sumriyal forests near Lolab in the frontier district of Kupwara on Tuesday night.

In another encounter, a militant of Lashkar-e-Tayiba was killed by security forces at Shokbaba in Bandipora district on Wednesday morning, the sources said.