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Security forces are engaged in an encounter with unspecified number of militants holed up in a mosque since Wednesday night in Banihal town of Doda district, official sources in Srinagar said on Thursday.
On a tip off that militants have entered the mosque, security forces cordoned off the area and asked them to surrender, but the holed up militants instead opened fire forcing the security forces to retaliate, the sources said.
During the encounter the ultras fired a rocket, which damaged a house in the vicinity, the sources said, adding the operation was still continuing.
The incident comes a day before the commencement of the month-long Amarnath pilgrimage that begins on Friday. The pilgrims have to pass the Banihal area to reach the cave shrine.
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