Three terrorists were killed in an encounter with security forces in Pulwama district's Tral in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday. 

A huge cache of arms and ammunition have been recovered. The three slain terrorists have been identified as Umar Fayaz Lone and Adil Bashir Mir of Hizbul Mujahideen and Faizan Hameed Bhat of Jaish-e-Mohammed, ANI reported. 

The encounter broke out early morning on Sunday after security forces initiated a joint cordon and search operation in the Gulshanpora area of Tral in south Kashmir.

The search operation, initiated by the security forces after receiving special intelligence, was intended to smoke out extremist militants, who remained in hiding in the area, PTI reported. 

Reports said the forces were conducting the search operation when the terrorists opened fire at them. Security forces retaliated heavily, a police official said. 

Earlier on Saturday, security forces had arrested two Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists - Naveed Babu and Asif Rather - at Wanpoh in south Kashmir's Kulgam district.