Srinagar: Two Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) militants and another belonging to Al-Qaeda affiliate Ansar Ghuzwat-Ul-Hind (AGH) and an Army jawan were killed in two separate fire fights in Kashmir Valley on Tuesday. Two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) men were injured in one of these clashes.

The officials said that two LeT militants identified as Aijaz Ahmed Makroo and Waris Ahmed Malik were killed in an encounter with the security forces in Redwani Bala village of southern Kulgam district.

Makroo, who had “a long history of terror crime records since 2017”, was a close associate of Naveed Jutt alias Abu Hanzalla and Azad Ahmed Malik alias Dada, two top LeT commanders.

Jutt is a Pakistani national from Sahiwal (Multan) who had on February 6 this year escaped after killing two J&K policemen who were escorting him to a hospital in Srinagar for medical check-up from a city prison and is since active mainly in south Kashmir.

The police said that the fighting broke out at Redwani Bala during a cordon-and-search operation launched by the security forces after receiving “credible input” about the presence of militants in the village.

An AGH militant identified as Shakir Hassan Dar was killed in an encounter in Hafoo Reshipora village of Tral area in Pulwama district. Later during the day, thousands of people attended the funeral of Dar in his native village Rathsuna, witnesses said.

While the gunfight was underway, large number of local youth took to the streets to chant pro-freedom slogans.