Abu Dujana, the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant commander who was killed in an encounter in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Tuesday, had refused to surrender, 55 Rashtriya Rifles’ Commanding Officer Kamal Nauriyal said, ANI reported on Thursday. During what police believe to be was Dujana’s last phone call, the militant purportedly congratulated the state police for finally nabbing him, NDTV reported.

“Sometimes I am ahead, sometimes you are ahead,” an unidentified official quoted Dujana as saying, NDTV reported. “Today you have caught me, congratulations.”

Nauriyal, who led the encounter, said Dujana was not letting the owners come out of the house he was cornered in, when security forces were conducting a search and cordon operation. “On July 31, we received information that Dujana was taking shelter in a house in Pulawama’s Hakripura village,” said Nauriyal. “The owner of the house requested the company commander on duty to rescue them as Dujana was not letting them out of the house. The company commander then spoke to Dujana over the phone and asked him to surrender himself.”

On Tuesday, the Jammu and Kashmir Police had said that Abu Dujana was killed in an encounter in Hakripora village in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district. The other LeT militant killed is believed to be Arif Nabi Dar, who went by the name, Arif Lelhari. The gunshots broke out early on Tuesday while security forces were conducting search operations in Hakripora, acting on intelligence that there were militants hiding in the area.