A suspected militant was killed in a gunfight with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district on Friday.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police identified the deceased as Mujeeb Amin Lone, a resident of Redwani village of Kulgam district.

“He had joined terrorist ranks in early September [20]21,” the police claimed in a statement. “He was responsible for creating terror in the locality and had been coercing innocent citizens to sympathise with anti-nationals.”

The Army and Jammu and Kashmir Police had launched a joint operation at 11.30 pm on Thursday. The police had received information about Lone’s presence in Rakhma area of Shopian district. The cordon was established by 2 am on Friday.

Once Lone was located, the police said they made multiple appeals for him to surrender. However, according to them, he opened fire at 5 am and was subsequently killed in the ensuing gunfight.

At least three suspected militants have been killed in Kashmir over the week.

On Tuesday, the Army killed a militant and captured another as they tried to infiltrate Uri town in Baramulla.

The Army claimed that the captured militant was misguided into joining the Lashkar-e-Taiba as his family was poor and he had lost his father at an early age.

Meanwhile, two suspected militants were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Sunday.

In a statement, the Indian Army said that the militants were offered a chance to surrender but they opened fire. The Army retaliated, killing the two militants, the statement added.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police claimed that one of the militants had shot dead Bharatiya Janata Party leader Waseem Bari, his father Bashir Ahmad and brother Umer Bashir in Bandipora in July.