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Updated: Nov 25, 2018 19:28 IST

The week ended on a very violent note in Kashmir on Sunday with an army soldier, seven militants and a civilian killed in two encounters between security forces and militants in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian and Pulwama districts today. At least 29 people, including 19 militants, have been killed in the Kashmir Valley since November 15.

In the Shopian gunfight, soldier Nazir Ahmad of 162 Territorial Army, currently operating with 36 Rashtriya Rifles, was killed. The army described him as a highly decorated soldier who was awarded Sena Medal twice. The seven militants included three district commanders – two of Hizbul Mujhaideen and one of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The civilian identified as Nouman Ashraf Bhat of Bolous Kulgam was killed in clashes with security forces that erupted around the encounter site. Locals said he was 17 years old.

Health officials said that more than 50 persons with pellet and bullet injuries, including an 18-month-old girl, came to Shopian and Kulgam hospitals after clashes between locals and security forces near the encounter site.

Since November 15, as many as 29 persons have been killed in various violent incidents across the Valley which include 19 militants, seven civilians and three security forces personnel. Seventeen of these militants, most of them locals, have been killed by security forces in Shopian, Anantnag and Pulwama districts since Wednesday alone.

Joint Resistance Leadership comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik has called for complete shutdown tomorrow (Monday) to “strongly protest and denounce the killing of 17 Kashmiris by Indian forces’ brutal action in the last 3 days”.

The encounter in Shopian ensued as security forces started a cordon and search operation around 1 am in Batagund village of Kapran in Shopian after getting information about presence of militants.

Police spokesman Manoj Kumar, in a statement, said that militants opened fire as the searches were going on. He said that soldier Nazir Ahmad was grievously injured in the final phase of the encounter and succumbed. Another jawan has been injured.

“In the ensuing encounter, six terrorists were neutralized and the bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter,” he said.

The killed militants were identified as Mushtaq Ahmad Mir, Mohammad Abass Bhatt, Umar Majeed Ganaie , Mohd Waseem Wagay , Khalid Farooq Malik and from the material evidence collected sixth one is learnt to be a foreigner from Pakistan, according to police.

“It was a combined group of HM (Hizbul Mujahideen) and LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba), as per police records, Mushtaq Ahmad Mir @Hammad was affiliated with LeT and was operating as District commander for Shopian, while Mohd Abaas, Waseem Wagay, Umar Majeed Ganai and Khalid were with HM. Mohd Abass was known as District Commander of HM for Shopian and Umar Majed was operating as district commander of HM for Kulgam,” said the spokesman.

The police claimed that all the slain were wanted by the law for their complicity in a series of terror crimes including attack on security establishments and civilian killings in the area. “With their elimination, all notorious terrorists of the belt have been successfully eliminated,” the spokesman said.

According to police records, Mohammad Abass Bhatt was involved in the recent spate of gruesome killings of civilians in Shopian including the decapitating of 19-year -old Huzaif Ashraf.

Bhatt was also wanted for killing of trainee army officer Lt Omar Fayaz, advocate Imtiyaz Khan and four police personnel at Shopian in August this year and many other civilian killings in the area, the police spokesman said.

The police said that the Pakistani terrorist was wanted in the gruesome killing of civilians in the area including the throat slitting video uploaded on social media.

Later, a Jaish-e-Mohammad militant was killed in a brief exchange of fire at Bathien in Khrew area of Pulwama. The police spokesman said he was a Pakistani codenamed Waseem.

On November 15, suspected militants shot dead Nadeem Manzoor Dar, 18, and slit the throat of a 19-year-old baker, Huzif Ashraf, two days later, on suspicions that they were police informers. On Friday, youth Bashrat Ahmad, who was earlier a special police officer, was abducted and killed by suspected militants in Shopian. Two other abducted youths, Reyaz Ahmad and Zahid Hamid, were, however, released unharmed.