Two suspected militants were killed in an ambush by the Indian army and police in Awantipora, Pulwama district in the India-held Kashmir on Sunday, reports said.

The suspects were identified as Rayees Ahmad Wani and Farooq Ahmad Hurra, affiliated with the militant Hizbul Mujahideen group operating in the India-held Kashmir.

Hurra and Wani were residents of Shopian and Pulwama districts and had joined the militant group in April and June of 2016, respectively.

Reports said that a joint party of Special Operations Group of Jammu and Kashmir Police and 55 Rashtriya Rifles ambushed the southern part of Pulwama district after receiving a tip-off about two suspected militants travelling in a car.

As soon as the car reached the barricade, "militants opened fire, which was retaliated", an Indian official told Srinagar-based media, adding, "in the ensuing gunfight, both were killed."

Witnesses said that police and paramilitary forces resorted to teargas shells to disperse people who had gathered near the Awantipora police station to demand the bodies of the slain suspected militants.

The protesters retaliated by throwing stones, triggering clashes between the two sides.

The bodies were later handed over to the next of the kin of the slain men.

In February, a woman and three soldiers were killed when militants ambushed an army convoy in held-Kashmir.

The soldiers were returning from a search operation when the militants attacked their convoy, injuring six, three of whom later died.