Police said a cordon and search operation was launched in Malla Bagh area by police and CRPF personnel on Thursday night. (Representational)

A militant who was named in the terror attack in south Kashmir’s Bijbehara on June 26 that killed a six-year-old boy and a CRPF constable, was killed by security forces in an encounter in Srinagar on Thursday night, the police said on Friday.

A CRPF personnel, identified as Head Constable Kuldeep Kumar, was injured during Thursday’s encounter and later succumbed, a Jammu and Kashmir Police spokesperson said in a statement issued Friday. The militant killed was identified as “Zahid Ahmad Dass, son of Ghulam Mohammad Dass, resident of Waghama Bijbehara”, police stated. He was affiliated with Islamic State Jammu and Kashmir (ISJK), a banned terror outfit.

Police said a cordon and search operation was launched in Malla Bagh area by police and CRPF personnel on Thursday night. “…hiding terrorists fired on the search party. The fire was retaliated, leading to an encounter,” police said, adding one militant was killed. Sources said another militant managed to escape.

“As per police records, he was involved in the June 26 attack in Padshahi Bagh area of Bijbehara, Anantnag, in which a CRPF personnel and 6-year-old child got killed; FIR was registered against him (Dass),” according to the police statement. “Besides, he escaped from an encounter on 30/6/20 (June 30) in Anantnag in which two terrorists of ISJK got killed.”

Srinagar can’t be militancy-free: IGP

Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, Vijay Kumar told the media on Friday, “Srinagar is a city where militants keep coming often. At times, they come for medical treatment, or to get funds, or for (attending) meetings.”

“Saying that Srinagar will be militancy-free…it can’t happen. They will keep coming here, and we (will) continue to receive inputs and will keep doing encounters (to kill them),” he added.