New Delhi: A top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist named Asif Maqbool Bhat was gunned down by security forces in Sopore district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, two days after police busted an LeT module in the Valley.

The terrorist was gunned down following a brief shootout, said Jammu and Kashmir police.

"Sopore update: In a brief shootout one terrorist is killed in #Sopore. Further details shall follow," tweeted Kashmir Zone Police.

According to sources, the militant belonged to the proscribed Pakistan-backed terror outfit LeT and was active in the Valley.

“Based on specific inputs, we set up checkpoints to track and block Asif. We intercepted him and he attacked us. He threw a grenade. A few police personnel were injured but they are out of danger,” J&K DGP chief Dilbag Singh told the media.

“Terrorists have been distributing posters in south Kashmir... There have also been incidents reported where terrorists manhandled people,” he said.

According to the police, Bhat was responsible for a recent shootout in which three members of a fruit trader’s family and a five-year-old girl were injured. Police said he was also responsible for the shooting of a migrant labourer named Shafi Aaalm in Sopore.

On September 9, Jammu and Kashmir Police along with the Army and other security forces including the Central Reserve Police Force had arrested eight militants from the Sopore region after busting a terror module of the LeT.

Javaid Iqbal, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Sopore district, said the men had hatched a conspiracy to print posters threatening locals against venturing out of their homes, either for trade, travel, schools or offices. They used to distribute these posters for circulation in local villages.