Forces and militants exchanged gunfire in South Kashmir's Shopian district on Tuesday.

A police official said that a cordon and search operation was jointly launched by special operations group of police, Army and paramilitary CRPF in Shirmal village receiving inputs about presence of militants in the area.

He said that brief exchange of firing took place between militants and forces at an orchard in the village.

"The firing has stopped now and searches were going on to find out the militants," he said.