Militants trapped in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir’s Kulgam are feared to have escaped after engaging security forces in a brief gunfight on Wednesday evening, apparently managing to give the slip to the forces the second time in a row in the Pir Panjal range in the last fortnight.

The operation in Kulgam, launched on Wednesday evening, continued on the second consecutive day amid a visit by Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar to Jammu on Thursday.

Dhankhar’s aircraft could not land in Jammu city due to adverse weather, forcing him to skip the convocation of the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology. He later reached adjoining Kathua district, after landing at Pathankot in neighbouring Punjab, where he inaugurated the Biotech Startup Expo at the Biotech Park in the district along the international border.

In Kashmir, forces were engaged in an operation in Kulgam.

Jammu and Kashmir police on Wednesday evening said an encounter had started at Hadigam area of Kulgam district where the police, army and the CRPF were on the job. It had offered no updates by Thursday evening.

Last week, the forces had informally called off a week-long operation in Poonch, which is on the other side of the Pir Panjal, after failing to nab the militants who had killed four army men and injured three more in an ambush.

Police sources said there was a brief exchange of fire on Wednesday evening in Hadigam but the operation was halted following darkness.

They said the operation was resumed early on Thursday during which several houses were searched. Militants, however, could not be traced, leading to worries that they might have escaped, taking advantage of darkness. Officials said there was no fresh firefight on Thursday but the operation was continuing.

Sources said the forces had launched a couple of more operations in Poonch in the past one week but there was no contact with the militants.

On Tuesday, Union home minister Amit Shah held a security review meeting with army chief General Manoj Pande in Delhi in the wake of the killing of four army men in Poonch in the militant attack and the rise in militancy in the area.