Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) 'commander' Mudasir Ahmad Khan, a “key conspirator” in the that left 40 CRPF jawans dead on February 14 last, was among two militants killed in an encounter at Tral in Pulwama on Sunday night, a Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) police spokesman said on Monday.

“The investigation so far conducted revealed that Khan was one of the key conspirators of the recent Pulwama convoy attack,” said the police spokesman in a statement.

Khan and his non-local associate were trapped inside a residential area in Tral’s Pinglish village on March 10 afternoon. The body of Khan, son of Farooq Ahmad Khan, a resident of Tral’s Midoora Tral, has been handed over to the family after they identified him.

“From the incriminating material recovered from the site of encounter, it's understood that the other killed terrorist was a Pakistani national codenamed Khalid,” said the police spokesman.

Both “affiliated with JeM”

According to the police records, both the militants were “affiliated with JeM outfit” and “were wanted by law for their complicity in a series of terror crimes, including attack on security establishments”.

The duo were involved in “planning and executing several terror attacks”, including a CRPF camp in 2018. “Arms and ammunition, including assault rifles, were recovered from the site of encounter. All these materials have been taken in the case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other terror cases,” said the police.

Disputing the Army's claim of killing three militants, the police said only two "charred bodies" have been recovered from the encounter site.