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Updated: May 23, 2019 22:52 IST

In a major breakthrough for the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, the Valley’s most wanted militant Zakir Musa was on Thursday killed in a joint operation by the Army, CRPF and state police in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

A police official said after having specific information about the presence of Zakir Musa and his associates in Dadsar village of the district, the Army, police, and the CRPF launched a joint operation around 5 pm, as the forces zeroed in on the house where militants were hiding, the militants fired upon forces triggering a fierce gunfight. In the ensuing fight, Musa was killed inside the house.

Scores of youth marched towards the encounter site, and government forces fired tear gas shells, leading to clashes.

The divisional administration in Kashmir snapped internet in south Kashmir and Srinagar as a precautionary measure and also ordered the closure of all schools and colleges across the Kashmir division on Friday.

Zakir Rashid Bhat, aka Zakir Musa, joined militancy in 2013 at the age of 19. He was earlier affiliated with Pakistan-based militant group, Hizbul Mujahideen when it was led by Burhan Wani, who was killed in 2016. He shot to prominence in 2017, after he announced his disassociation with HM, and formed his own outfit Ansar ul Gazwat ul Hind, which had less than 10 militants and in past two years, most of its militants have been killed.