SRINAGAR: Seven militants including the chief commander of Alqaeda-linked Ansar Gazwal-ul-Hind were killed in two separate encounters with security forces on Friday.
A joint contingent of the police, the CRPF and the Army launched a search and combing operation in Nawbugh area of Tral in Pulwama district after receiving inputs about militants' presence there.
He said that during the search operations, militants fired on the troops which was retaliated and later triggered into an encounter that killed two militants. Imtiyaz Shah, the AGuH chief was among the deceased in this gunfight. The search operation is underway, a police spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, in a separate gunfight that has been underway since Thursday in south Kashmir's Shopian district, two militants were killed by troops. The toll in this encounter has risen to five.
The police said that the chief commander of the militant outfit was among those trapped in the encounter. The brother of the holed-up militant and local cleric were sent inside the mosque to persuade them to surrender and lay down their weapons.
The security persons are still trying to ascertain if another militant commander is trapped in the Shopian gunfight.