Chennai, April 28 (ANI): The Tamil Nadu government and the regional Congress leaders on Monday paid homage to one of the security personnel, Major Mukund Vardarajan at his Chennai residence. Major Mukund Vardarajan and sepoy Vikram Singh were killed by militants during an overnight gun battle that started Friday in Shopian, which is 55 kilometres away from Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar. Senior Congress leader E V K S Elangovan said fighting militancy is the biggest challenge in front of the country. Both the security personnel are survived by their wives and children. Acting on a tip-off about a militant hideout, security forces launched the search operation to flush them out. The militants were reportedly asked to surrender but they resorted to firing, triggering the gunfight.