Four Pakistani militants belonging to Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami were killed on Thursday in a gun battle with security forces in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir, a defence spokesman said.

On a tip-off, troops launched a comb-and-search operation in Deeda area of Gool tehsil of Udhampur on Thursday morning to track down a group of militants, he told PTI.

During the operation, an encounter took place in which four HUJI militants were killed, the spokesman said.

The divisional commander of the outfit Abu Saleem was among the dead, he said, adding that two bodies were recovered from the area.