Five suspected militants were killed in two anti-militancy operations in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Wednesday. The police said that one of the militants was the district commander of The Resistance Front, believed to be an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The Front had claimed responsibility for most of the 11 civilians killings in Jammu and Kashmir last month.

In a statement, the police said that they carried the operations in Pombay and Gopalpora villages after receiving inputs of the presence of militants there. The police claimed that in both the incidents, they gave the militants time to surrender but they opened fire.

In Goalpara, Aafaq Sikander Lone, the district commander of The Resistance Front, and his associate Irfan Mushtaq Lone were killed, the statement said. A rifle and a pistol were recovered from them.

The police claimed that Lone was involved in the killing of civilians and security forces. They claimed that the militant was involved in the killing of police officer Nissar Ahmad Wagay on August 7 and migrant labourer Shankar Kumar Choudary on September 17.

The police claimed that Lone was also part of the grenade attacks in Nehama region and carried out an attack on Manzgam area in which four police officers were injured.

In Pombay, two of the militants killed were identified as Shakir Najar, the deputy district commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, and Sumair Najar, affiliated to the The Resistance Front.

The police said that they were trying to the identity the third militant. They said that the third militant might be Aslam Dar, the district commander of Hizbul Mujahideen. However, the exact identification will be established after DNA samples are matched, they said.

“The killed terrorists were involved in various terror crime cases including civilian atrocities,” the statement said. “Pertinently terrorist Shakir Najar was active since April 2018.”

The police have registered cases in both the incidents and are conducting further investigation, the statement said.

Meanwhile, the police said they arrested two militants of Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pulwama. They recovered two ready-to-use improvised explosive devices.

The militants have been identified as Amir Bashir Dar and Mukhtar Ahmad Bhat, the statement said.

In another incident, suspected militants hurled grenades at Palhallan Chowk area of Baramulla district in which three civilians and two Central Reserve Police Force personnel sustained injuries.

The police said that they were shifted to a nearby hospital. Their condition is stated to be stable, the police said, adding that a case have been registered and an investigation is underway.