Kashmir Valley's most wanted terrorist Burhan Wani killed in Anantnag encounter

Srinagar: The Kashmir Valley's most wanter terrorist Burhan Wani was among three militants shot dead by the security forces in an ongoing gunfight in the state's Anantnag district on Friday.

The operation is still reportedly on at Kokernag in Anantnag district, some 80 km from Srinagar. According to ANI, security forces have killed at least three terrorists so far.

Others killed along with Wani were Sartaz, who is a resident of Kokernag area and was believed to have carried out several attacks on police in South Kashmir. The identity of the third was yet to be ascertained. 

The gun battle erupted when a joint team of police and army was conducting a search operation in Bumdoora village of Kokernag following a tip-off.

“While the security forces were conducting the search operation, the hiding militants fired at them, triggering the gunbattle,” PTI quoted a police officer as saying.

The firing was going on when last reports came in, the official said.

Wani, a 21-year-old Hizbul Muhahideen commander, was considered the face of a new generation of militancy in Kashmir.

Wani joined the ranks of Hizbul Muhahideen in 2010 and went on to become a social media icon for the terror group.

The young radical had never tried to conceal his or his followers’ identities, the Quint reported.

For the last one and a half years, Wani, who had become an icon of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, carried a reward of Rs one million on his head.

He had recently posted a video on social media threatening local policemen and other security forces with dire consequences if they carried out anti-militancy operations in Kashmir.

Innumerable images of Wani and posts extolling him were uploaded on social networking sites like Facebook which the security agencies had got removed but that did not erase his popularity.

"It is no doubt a major success for us and a major jolt to militancy in the state," an official said requesting anonymity.

Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and other separatists from the Valley have meanwhile called for a state-wide shutdown against the killing of Burhan Wani.

As news of Wani's death spread, crowds pelted police with stones in Srinagar, the state`s summer capital, and in some southern reaches of the state, officials said.

Authorities ordered restrictions on the movement of people and traffic in parts of Srinagar on Saturday and police said they had placed several separatist leaders under house arrest to prevent trouble.