A militant was killed by the security forces in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Saturday, the police said.

Mudasir Ahmad Wagay was the district commander of militant group Hizbul Mujahideen, according to the police.

The police said that along with the Army and the Central Reserve Police Force, they had launched a cordon and search operation in Kulgam’s Ashmuji village after receiving information that militants were hiding there.

Sixty civilians, including children, were evacuated from the area, ANI reported.

Arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of the gunfight, the police said.

Wagay was asked to surrender but he refused and fired at the security forces, the police claimed. “[The gunfire] was retaliated leading to an encounter,” they added.

The police said that Wagay was on the list of “most-wanted terrorists”, The Hindu reported. “He was part of groups involved in several terror crimes, including attacks on security forces, and civilian atrocities,” they said. “He was also involved in the killing of a political worker, Ghulam Hassan Lone, in the Devsar area of Kulgam.”

Lone was a Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party worker who was shot dead by suspected militants on August 19.