A suspected militant was killed in a gunfight with the police in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Thursday. The police claimed that Javed Ah Wani was involved in the killing of two labourers from Bihar in the Wanpoh area of Kulgam district on October 17.

Kashmir Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar said that Wani was “on a mission” to kill a shopkeeper in Baramulla.

The police said that the militant fired at the security forces after which they retaliated. Arms and ammunition were recovered from Wani, the police added.

Kumar said that Wani had assisted another militant, Gulzar Ahmad Reshi, in the killing of the labourers.

Reshi, the district commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba, and another unidentified militant were shot dead by the police on October 20. Three security force personnel had also sustained injuries in the gunfight.

The labourers who died were identified as Raja Reshi Dev and Joginder Reshi Dev.

At least 12 civilians have been killed in Kashmir in the past three weeks. The Resistance Front, an off shoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba, has claimed responsibility for most of the civilian deaths.

Kumar had claimed on October 20 that security forces in Jammu and Kashmir have killed 15 militants in the past two weeks.

On October 11, two suspected militants were killed and a police officer was injured in gunfights in the Bandipora and Anantnag districts.

On October 13, the police had said that Jaish-e-Mohammed commander Sham Sofi was killed in a gunfight with security forces in the Pulwama district.