Two militants, including a commander of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit, were killed in a fierce south Kashmir encounter that ended on Saturday evening.

Security personnel said acting on specific information, troops of 44 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) and police, surrounded a house in Ladkigam village of south Kashmir Pulwama district early Saturday morning.

"As the troops were zeroing in on the house in which the militants were hiding, they came under heavy automatic gunfire, which triggered a sustained encounter between the surrounding security forces and the holed up militants," a senior police officer said.

He said, "The encounter ended in the evening, after both the holed-up militants were eliminated, from whose possession one AK-47 rifle was recovered while searches are still going on."

"One of the slain militants has been identified as JeM commander, Abdul Gani Dar who was a category "A" militant in the most wanted list of the police."