Six militants and a soldier were killed in an encounter with in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday (November 25). A civilian died and at least five others were left injured in ensuing clashes that rocked Shopian and Pulwama in the afternoon.

Massive protests erupted near the encounter site when local youths clashed with the security forces.

Giving details of the operation, an official told PTI that the security forces launched a cordon and search operation at Hipura Batagund village around midnight following specific information about presence of militants.

The militants were identified as Mushtaq Ahmad Mir, Mohammad Abass Bhatt, Umar Majeed Ganai, Mohd Waseem Wagay, Khalid Farooq Mali and one foreigner from Pakistan. Police say, all of them belonged to Hizbul and Lashkar-e-Taiba while two of the deceased were district commanders of the terror outfits.

During the search operations, the militants opened fire at the forces, which resulted in a gun battle.

"Initially, one jawan of 34 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) sustained injuries in the exchange of fire. He was evacuated to hospital and is stated to be stable now. However, one jawan identified as Nazir Ahmad of 34 RR who got grievously injured in the final phase of the encounter has succumbed," the official told PTI.

#WATCH: Protesters pelt stones on the vehicles of security forces in Shopian following the encounter in Kapran Batagund area which concluded earlier today. 6 terrorists were neutralised and one Army jawan died in action. #JammuandKashmir pic.twitter.com/0YHX3sFAX9 ANI (@ANI) November 25, 2018





Bodies of the slain militants have been retrieved. Huge quantities of arms and ammunition were also recovered from the militants' bodies, reported PTI.

Six other operatives, linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizb-ul Mujahideen, were killed on Friday (November 23) in a gun battle with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district.

Azad Malik, accused of killing journalist Shujaat Bukhaari, was one of the six killed. The 50-year-old editor was attacked by three bike-borne assailants while he was entering his car on June 14 this year, in Srinagar.

Five of the terrorists, killed on Sunday, have been identified as - LeT district commander Mushtaq Mir, Hizb district commander Abbas Ali, Hizb deputy chief in Shopian Waseem Wagay urf Saif Ullah, Omar Majeed Gani and Khalid Farooq urf Talha. The sixth one is suspected to be a Pakistani terrorist.

This takes the count of terrorists killed in the past 72 hours to 12.

The militants killed in Friday's gun battle in Bijbehera area in south Kashmir were identified as Unais Shafi, Shahid Bashir, Basit Ishtiyaq, Aqib Najar and Firdous Najar.

In regard with Sunday's operation, the security officials said they had launched a cordon and search operation in the area following information about the presence of terrorists. The search operation turned into an encounter after the militants fired upon the forces.

Mobile internet services have reportedly been suspended in Shopian and Kulgam districts as a precautionary measure.

(With inputs from PTI)

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