SRINAGAR: The chief of al-Qaida’s Kashmir module was killed along with two of his aides in a gun battle with security forces that started in south Kashmir's Shopian district on Tuesday and stretched into Wednesday afternoon, leaving six soldiers – including a major – and two civilians injured.Burhan Majid Koka, who had taken charge of the Ansar Ghazwat-ul Hind after his predecessor Hameed Lone was shot dead in an encounter with security forces in October last year, was holed up with his men at Melhoora village of Zainpora , around 60km from Srinagar , when a joint team of Shopian police and the 55 Rashtriya Rifles cordoned off the area.While one of the terrorists was shot dead soon after the operation started, the other two kept the raid party at bay with intermittent gunfire for close to 24 hours, officials said.The Army-police contingent moved in on Wednesday after the guns on the other side fell silent. Inside the hideout were the bodies of Koka and two terrorists identified as Nasir Bhat from Anantnag and Umar Fidayeen from Kulgam . Security forces also found two AK-47 rifles, a revolver and a large quantity of ammunition.All eight injured — the Army major is said to be in a critic al condition – have been shifted to the main military hospital in Srinagar. The two injured civilians are both residents of Melhoora who were caught in the crossfire, sources said.Koka is the third chief of al-Qaida’s Kashmir module to be killed in the span of a year. Before Lone was shot dead last October, security forces had hunted down the outfit's founder, Zakir Rashid Bhat alias Zakir Musa, in May.