The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Thursday arrested a suspected militant following a gunfight with security forces in Anantnag district. Zaheer Abbas Lone, who was injured in the gunfight, was shifted to a hospital for treatment, the police said.

A police official said the security forces launched a search operation in Anantnag’s Baba Gund Khaleel area after receiving information about the presence of militants, reported PTI. A gunfight ensued after the militant opened fire. Lone, a resident of Pulwama, sustained injuries in the abdomen.

On December 9, three Al-Badr militants were killed in an encounter in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district. A civilian was also injured in the incident. Four suspected militants were killed in a gunfight with security forces along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway near Nagrota on November 19. Two security personnel were injured in the gunfight.

Two suspected militants were killed in early November, while another surrendered before security forces during an overnight gunfight in Pulwama. Hizbul Mujahideen’s new operations commander Saifullah was killed on November 1 in a gunfight with security forces in Srinagar. Saifullah had taken over as chief of the organisation after Riyaz Naikoo, one of Kashmir’s longest surviving militants, was killed in May.