The holed up militants were killed in the encounter in Graw-Bandina village of Awantipora.

"Two militants believed to belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit have been killed in the encounter. Their exact identity is being established. Searches are still going on in the area," an officer said.

"#Awantipora #encounter update: 02 #terrorists killed. #Arms & #ammunition recovered. #Identities & #affiliations are being ascertained," was the update on the official twitter handle of J&K Police.

Train services from Srinagar to Banihal town passing through Pulwama district and all mobile Internet services in the area have been suspended.

The encounter started earlier in the day when acting on specific information the security forces began a cordon and search operation to flush out hiding militants.