The Jammu and Kashmir police on Wednesday said they have killed a Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militant, involved in the attack on an off-duty policeman on February 1, in south Kashmir’s Shopian.

“A joint cordon and search operation of the police, the Army and the CRPF was launched in Shopian’sNadigam village following a tip-off.In the ensuing encounter, Umar Ishfaq Malik alias Musa from Shopian’s Bongam was killed. He was linked to the Hizb,” Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar toldRashtra News.

Slain Malik,as per the police records, was a categorised terrorist and was active since 2020.“He was involved in a recent attack on Assistant Sub Inspector Shabir Ahmad at Amshijipora in Shopian while he was returning back from a nearby mosque after offering prayers. He was also instrumental in motivating the gullible youth to join terror folds and other criminal activities,” Mr. Kumar said.

ASI in hospital

ASI Ahmad has been admitted to a Srinagar hospital, as he had sustained multiple bullet wounds in the attack on Tuesday.According to the police, Malik was providing logistic and other support to the active terrorists in the area before joining the terror ranks.“Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of the encounter.

All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation,” the police said.Malik became 400militant to be killed during the tenure of Mr. Kumar, who took over as Kashmir’s top police officeron December 30, 2019.Mr. Kumar, a1997 batch IPS officer, was earlier posted as Inspector General of Police of the Commando Battalions of the Resolute Action in the CRPF.