Srinagar/IBNS/UNI: Three Army jawans were injured in an ongoing encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Friday, police said.

The encounter started between militants and joint forces this evening at high reaches of Halan forest area of Kulgam.

"Three (03) jawans got injured in the encounter. They are being evacuated to hospital for treatment. Search in the area intensifies.." a police tweet said.

The gunfight erupted a day after an army soldier, Javaid Ahmad Wani, who went missing from his native Kulgam district while he was on leave, was traced by police.

Police didn’t divulge more as to how the soldier was traced.

Wani, a rifleman with the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry, from Achathal village in Kulgam, went missing on July 29 evening after he left for Chawalgam village, in the same district, to buy some items.

Wani’s car was later found at Paranhal village, about 5 km from his Achathal residence.

Fearing that he might have been abducted by militants, his mother released a video message pleading for his safe return home.

Wani's family Friday praised the efforts of the police and the Army in tracing their son.