A top Jaish-e-Muhammad commander was among six terrorists killed during two encounters with the security forces in Pulwama and Shopian districts of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday (16 May), reports Business Standard. A soldier and a civilian also lost their lives during one of the encounter.

According to the report, after getting specific inputs about presence of terrorists, the security forces launched a cordon and search operation in the Dalipura area of Pulwama district in early hours of Thursday (16 May) . A fierce gun battle started after terrorists fired at the security forces, in which three terrorists, including a Pakistani Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) commander Khalid Bhai, were killed.

As per a ToI report, the police said that Khalid had masterminded the attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Lethpora in 2017 that killed five soldiers.

Two other terrorists killed in the Dalipura encounter were identified as Naseer Pandith and Umar Mir. A soldier Sandeep Kumar got wounded in the encounter and was taken to the Army hospital, but succumbed to his injuries.

During another encounter on the same day in Handew area of Shopian district after security forces got credible inputs, three terrorists were neutralised while one soldier was injured.