Police said that following intelligence inputs about the presence of terrorists in the Redwani area of Kulgam district, an operation was started to flush out them from the hideout.

“When the security forces closed on the hiding terrorists, they fired at the security forces triggering an encounter which is still going on,” police said.

Kulgam encounter has come in the wake of the Poonch terror attack in which one air warrior was killed and four others injured.

The encounter in Kulgam comes at a time when the political parties are campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls in the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency. Kulgam is part of this Lok Sabha constituency.