Srinagar, May 28: Hizbul Mujahideen commander Sabzar Ahmad Bhat and his close aide Faizan Ahmed were killed in a gunfight with the govt forces at Tral in south Kashmir's Pulwama district here on Saturday.
According to A top police official said, "Soon after the militants believed to be Sabzar and his two aides, attacked an army patrol at Saimoh village in Tral on Friday evening, forces laid a siege of around three villages. There was no clue about the exact location of the house where the militants were hiding but we were sure that militants were holed up".
Police further said that "As the inputs were further corroborated, during the night long cordon and with the first light of the day the house where militants had taken a refuge in Saimoh village was zeroed in on and both the militants were killed."
Locals said as the search was on, the forces blew up two residential houses using explosives. “One house of Abdul Rashid Mir was set ablaze by forces on late Friday night although there was no militant inside.
"However, on early Saturday morning forces conducted house to house searches. As soon as the force personnel entered into the house of Ghulam Hassan Bhat, where militants were hiding, the militants fired on them. Forces returned the fire triggering an encounter in which both the militants were killed," sources added.