Today a PhD scholar chose death over life & was killed in an encounter. His death is entirely our loss as we are lo… https://t.co/dFh5dJX3fW — Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) 1539249900000

It is high time that all the political parties in the country realise the gravity of this situation and try to faci… https://t.co/S76EloMiUu — Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) 1539249915000

SRINAGAR: Two Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists, including PhD scholar-turned-terrorist Manan Bashir Wani, were killed on Thursday during an encounter with security forces at Handwara in Kupwara district of north Kashmir, officials said.The encounter broke out in the early hours at Satgund in Handwara following a specific intelligence about presence of Wani, 27, along with two others, they said.Giving details emerging from the encounter site, which ended, police and other security forces were fired upon by holed up terrorists resulting in exchange of fire which continued till 11 am.Police was also making repeated announcements on public address system appealing to the terrorists to surrender, the officials said.There was a lull in firing at around 9 am, prompting the police to initiate search operation at the encounter site, but the same had to be suspended after firing resumed after 15 minutes, the officials said.Meanwhile, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti termed the killing of PhD scholar turned terrorist as "loss" and has urged to resolve the Kashmir dispute through dialogue with all the stake holders including Pakistan."Today a PhD scholar chose death over life and was killed in an encounter. His death is entirely our loss as we are losing young educated boys everyday," Mufti tweeted.In another tweet she said: "It is high time that all the political parties in the country realise the gravity of this situation and try to facilitate a solution through dialogue with all the stake holders including Pakistan to end this bloodshed"Wani, who was enrolled as a PhD scholar with the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), joined terrorist ranks in January this year.