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Updated: Mar 01, 2018 19:23 IST

abhishek.saha@htlive.com

A militant was gunned down in an encounter with security forces in the wee hours of Thursday at Hajin in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district, officials said.

“One terrorist of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), apparently FT (foreign terrorist) was killed in an encounter in Hajin Bandipore on Thursday morning in a joint operation of state police, army and the CRPF,” director general of state police SP Vaid tweeted.

The encounter ensued when security forces launched a cordon and search operation at Hajin’s Shakoor Din Mohalla on Thursday morning after receiving information about presence of militants there, Jammu and Kashmir Police said in a statement.

Arms and ammunition, including AK 47 rifles, and other incriminating materials were recovered from the encounter site.

“Prima facie it appears that the dead militant belongs to the outlawed LeT and is a Pakistani national,” the statement said.

The encounter took place barely two days after the body of a Pakistani militant was recovered from Hajin.

The militant is said to have escaped after suffering bullet injuries in a gunfight with the security forces in the area a day earlier.

Agitated locals did not hand over the body to the police and buried it in a local graveyard. Police said in a statement that action would be initiated against those “who led the protest and instigated the public.”

Later on Tuesday night, police issued another statement which said, “Certain sections of media mostly on cyber platforms are carrying news related to Hajjn in a manner which is not correct. Such malicious campaign indicates designs of mischief mongers to exploit the situation. General public is requested to not pay heeds to such rumours.”

Local media reports said that Hajin observed a shutdown both on Tuesday and Wednesday over the militant’s death.