A terrorist involved in the targeted killings of civilians from minority communities in Srinagar was gunned down Friday in an anti-terror operation in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. According to J&K police, security agencies received the information about the presence of the terrorist, Shahid Bashir Sheikh, in the Wahibug area of Pulwama, prompting a search and cordon operation.

Police said that the slain terrorist was a resident of Srinagar.

“One #terrorist of #Srinagar City involved in recent civilian killing, neutralised in #Pulwama #encounter,” Vijay Kumar, IGP, Kashmir, tweeted.

One AK-47 rifle, along with ammunition, was recovered from the site of the encounter, police said.

“He (Sheikh) was involved in the killing of a civilian, Mohammad Shafi Dar — an employee of Power Development Department, on 2/10/21. An AK-47 rifle was used in that killing,” news agency PTI quoted police as saying.

Security forces have intensified counterterrorism operations in the Valley after Pakistan-based as well as Pakistan-backed terrorist groups stepped up attacks in the region, particularly targeting the civilians from Hindu and Sikh communities.

At least 11 terrorists from organisations ranging from Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) to Hizbul Mujahideen and The Resistance Force (TRF) have been neutralised in the last 10 days.

“After civilian attacks, we started offensive ops. 8 encounters took place and 11 terrorists killed. After civilian killings, terrorists in Srinagar city fled to South Kashmir – one killed in Shopian and Shahid, who had killed PDD staff, killed in today’s Pulwama encounter,” ANI quoted Kumar as saying.

(With inputs from agencies)