| Government forces killed a top militant leader during a raid early on Tuesday on his hideout in Jammu and Kashmir, police said. Identified by police as Shakeel Ansari of the Hizbul Mujahideen, the largest Kashmiri militant group, he put up a brief gunfight in Pandachh, a village on the outskirts of Srinagar, according to K Rajindra, a senior police officer. Rajindra said Ansari was the second top militant leader to be killed by security forces in less than a week. Paramilitary forces claimed to have killed Abdul Rashid, a top military commander of the group, last Thursday. Ansari was Rashid’s deputy, Rajindra said. However, the police claim could not be independently verified. Last week, Hizb said Indian forces had killed Rashid in a fake encounter after capturing him. Authorities denied the charge and said he was killed during a raid at a home on the outskirts of Srinagar. |