In a shocking incident, militants slit the throat of a special police officer (SPO) while he was travelling in a public transport vehicle in Kupwara, even as six militants were killed in three separate encounters in Kashmir on Monday.

The police said militants slit the throat of an SPO, identified as Mohammad Ashraf Khan, working for counter-insurgency, special operations group (SOG) at Zachaldara, 85 km from Srinagar [Images] on Monday afternoon.

This is the first such incident, where militants overpowered, and knived the throat of the SPO in vehicle in front of shocked passengers.

As the two militants jumped off the vehicle, after slaying the SPO, his colleague fired upon them, killing one of the two militants on the spot.

Meanwhile, five militants belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit were gunned down by the security forces in two separate encounters at Mandigam in north Kashmir Kupwara district, and at Alyalpora in the south Kashmir Shopian district on Monday.

The police said Mandigam encounter, which had started on Sunday, after security forces surrounded a house with holed-up militants ended on Monday.

"Bodies of three militants were recovered from under the debris of the house, which was destroyed in the exchange of fire between the militants and the troops of 30 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) and SOG," a senior police officer said.

One army captain and a soldier were also injured in the encounter.

Two more militants of LeT holed up inside a house in south Kashmir, Alyalpora village, were gunned down by the troops of 44 RR and SOG.