A terrorist was neutralised and another one escaped after an encounter with the Srinagar Police team on Friday evening. The terrorists were said to be out for one more targeted killing when they were intercepted by Srinagar police and opened fire. The encounter took place in Natipura, a locality in Srinagar.

Jammu and Kashmir Police said the terrorist who was killed during the encounter has been identified as Aqib Bashir Kumar, a resident of Shopian, who was affiliated with The Resistance Force (TRF), an offshoot of Pakistan terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba. Another terrorist who managed to escape is said to have infiltrated from across the border.

According to top Jammu and Kashmir police officials, three modules of six locals have been involved in the recent targeted killings of civilians, all of them led by terrorists from Pakistan.

The militants of the TRF have regrouped after the Jammu and Kashmir Police in August killed Mohd Abbas Sheikh, the top commander of the outfit. Sheikh was responsible for numerous attacks on civilians, lawmakers and security personnel. Sheikh was killed after terrorists were challenged by the police dressed in civvies and opened fire.

The Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir has been witnessing protests and marches after at least five civilians, all of them religious minorities in the Valley, were killed by terrorists this week. Supinder Kour, a Sikh woman school principal, and a Hindu teacher were killed by terrorists on Thursday.

TRF has claimed responsibility for the recent killings, including the murder of a prominent pharmacist Makhan Lal Bindroo, a Kashmiri Pandit.

Union home minister Amit Shah is likely to visit Jammu and Kashmir later this month as part of the government’s mass outreach programme and review development schemes. In the last four weeks, several Union ministers visited Jammu and Kashmir as part of the outreach programme.