Top Lashkar-e-Taiba commander and Udhampur terror attack mastermind Abu Qasim was killed in an encounter between security personnel and militants early Thursday in Kulgam in south Kashmir, the Indian Army announced.

Security forces launched an operation at 2am on Thursday in Khandipora village of Kulgam after receiving information about the 28-year-old's presence in the area, an army official told the Press Trust of India. A fierce gun battle broke out, leading to his death.

Qasim was the main perpetrator in the terror attack on a Border Security Force convoy at Udhampur in August this year in which two soldiers were killed. One terrorist was also shot dead while another, Pakistani national Mohammed Naved, was captured by the police.

Qasim was also reportedly behind the Hyderpora attack in 2013 in which eight soldiers were killed and 16 others injured in an ambush on an army convoy. The National Investigation Agency had last month announced a bounty of Rs 10 lakh Qasim's head in posters that were pasted across the Kashmir Valley.