The Islamic State's attempts to establish itself as a terrorist organisation in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday after its commander in Kashmir, Eiha Fazili, was killed in an encounter in Hakura in South Kashmir's Anantnag district.

A joint team of the Special Operations Group (SOG), the Indian Army and the CRPF launched a cordon-and-search operation at Hakura village just in the wee hours.

The security forces had specific inputs about the presence of some militants inside a house on the village. During the search, militants fired at the forces. What followed was a short shootout ending in the deaths of three terrorists.

Police found AK-47 rifles, pistols and hand grenades and said the militants belonged to Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen and Hizbul-ul-Mujahideen outfits.

But as the day progressed, Islamic State Jammu and Kashmir or ISJK channels on social media began acknowledging that Eisa Fazili was the commander of the ISJK. The other two killed in this encounter, Syed Owais and Sultan, were also Islamic State members - Abu Baraa al-Kashmiri and Abu Zarr al-Hindi. Eisa was known by his alias Abu Yahya al-Istashadi.

Group photo of the three with other militants whose faces have been masked by ISJK social media networks to protect their identities.

Photo: @natsecjeff/Twitter

His father Naeem Fazili posted on Facebook about Essa's death.

Just a week ago, Naeem Fazili in a Facebook post had said how his son was being exploited by separatist elements in the Valley.