Four Indian army troopers and one militant were killed yesterday in a fierce gunfight in south Kashmir Pulwama district.

The gunfight was set off after Indian army troops who were conducting an anti-insurgency operation in Bochu Tral village on specific input about presence of a group of heavily armed militants were fired upon by the hiding militants.

“We lost three soldiers when militants fired on the cordon. The fire was returned triggering a gunfight,” said a defense spokesman.

The fourth injured soldier who was taken to hospital succumbed later, he added.

He said more reinforcements were rushed to the Bochu village to strengthen the cordon and launch searches in the nearby forest area.

The gunfight continued for some time during which a top militant commander of Hizbul Mujahideen was also killed, according to police.

The searches are still continuing in the area which is highly tense. Yesterday's gunfight came a day after a top militant commander of the Lashkare Taiba (LeT) outfit was killed in a downtown locality of the summer capital Srinagar.