A suspected militant was killed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Wednesday following a gunfight with security forces.

A joint team of the Army, the special operations group of the state police and the Central Reserve Police Force had cordoned off the Chakoora area of Litter town in Pulwama based on inputs about the presence of militants, the Greater Kashmir reported.

Clashes erupted at the site after the gunfight, reports said, adding that the security forces used tear gas shells to disperse the protestors.

The police, in a statement, said the militants opened fire on a joint patrolling party, leading to a brief gunfight. The militant was identified as Irfan Ahmed Sheikh, the district commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Pulwama unit and a Chakoora resident.

“He was wanted by the law for his complicity in terror crimes,” the police said in a statement. “Irfan had a long history of terror crime records for which several terror cases were registered against him. He was involved in conspiring and executing several terror attacks on security establishments in the area, including grenade attacks.” Arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of gunfight, the police added.

Mobile internet was suspended in the district after the gunfight.