Security forces killed a suspected militant in a gunbattle in Handwara of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Thursday, police said.

The militant was identified as Danish Ahmad Dar, who was associated with the Jaish-e-Mohammad extremist group, the police force said. The Jaish-e-Mohammad had claimed responsibility for the February 14 Pulwama attack, in which 40 jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force were killed.

“According to police records, the killed terrorist was affiliated with proscribed terror outfit JeM and was wanted by the law for his complicity in a series of terror crimes including attack on security establishments and civilian atrocities,” a police statement said. “Several terror crime cases were registered against him for his involvement in terror crime offences.”

The police said they recovered a rifle, grenades and other incriminating materials from the site of the encounter. “All these materials have been taken in the case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other terror cases,” the force added.

The police advised citizens not to venture inside the area where the encounter took place, due to the possibility of presence of stray explosive materials. “People are requested to cooperate with police till the area is completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosives materials if any,” they added.