Srinagar, Dec. 23 :    Srinagar, Dec. 23:  As guns boomed along the frontline overnight, security forces shot dead two suspected 'commanders' of the Lashkar-e-Toiba in the first sign of a 'proactive' crackdown in Kashmir. Lashkar deputy chief Saifullah Askari alias Owais was killed along with his aide in the encounter in Baramullah district, a defence spokesman said today. They were Pakistani nationals and figured in category A of the militant list, the spokesman said. Askari and his aide Mirza alias Abu Ali were killed by a search team of the army and the special operations group of Jammu and Kashmir police at Watrena village near Lawaypora in Bandipora late last night. A defence spokesman described the killing of Askari as a 'major breakthrough'. Officials refused to say whether the encounter was the result of a shift in strategy but 'high-profile' hitbacks were on top of Delhi's drawing board after the attack on Parliament. Among the scenarios being considered by the Centre surgical strikes within the border were the least risk-prone. However, poor intelligence had hampered earlier campaigns to 'sterilise' militant-infested areas within the border. The defence spokesman said troops of 15 Rashtriya Rifles, along with the police, laid a cordon around the village last evening following a tip-off on the presence of top Pakistani militants there. As the army conducted house-to-house searches, militants hiding in a house started firing and lobbed grenades. In the gunbattle that followed, the Lashkar leader and his associate were killed, the spokesman said. He said the Lashkar leader was the brain behind several suicide attacks on security camps and convoys in north Kashmir. Besides being the deputy chief, operations, of Lashkar, Askari was also Baramullah district chief for the last several years. However, the euphoria over the strike was tempered by an ambush by Pakistani troops in Samba sector, killing three paramilitary soldiers. Defence sources in Jammu said Pakistani troops ambushed a patrol party of the BSF at Gallar village on the border in Samba sector. The attack triggered heavy fighting on the border in the Jammu region. Defence sources said Indian forces targeted Pakistani posts in the area, destroying seven bunkers in Poonch and three in another sector. Unconfirmed reports said 20 Pakistani soldiers were killed In Islamabad, Pakistan claimed that its forces blew up four Indian bunkers in the Poonch and Rawalkot sectors on the Line of Control (LoC). The sources said the heavy artillery exchanges spread panic among civilians in three villages in Samba. The residents have fled their homes in panic. A civilian, identified as Rekha Devi, was hit by shrapnel. Stick and carrot The Jammu and Kashmir government today scrambled to control damage after allegations that policemen stood helpless when militants gunned down Sikh women on Friday night. The government decided to dismiss nine policemen for 'dereliction of duty' at Poshkreeri village in Anantnag district where the women were gunned down. 'They failed to retaliate and save the lives of the members of the minority community,' said an officer. The villagers had complained to visiting ministers that the policemen did not fire a single shot when they came under the militant attack. As part of a carrot-and-stick policy, the government also gave out-of-turn promotion to two policemen who saved the lives of members of a family belonging to the minority community.