Hizbul Mujahideen commander Sabzar Ahmad Bhat, who was killed by security forces in an encounter in Tral area of Srinagar on Saturday, was under the radar of intelligence agencies for the last few days.

Bhat, who succeeded Burhan Wani as the commander of Hizbul Mujahideen in Tral, was present in Srinagar on May 19 and 20. He reportedly wanted to strike a truce with Hurriyat leaders, who were enraged when Zakir Musa had threatened to kill them for calling Kashmir’s separatist movement political and not religious.

Sources told that the Tral operation was based on specific intelligence inputs of three militants hiding in a house in Soimoh village of Tral district, 36 km from Srinagar.

The operation commenced on Friday night and contact with the militants was established at 8:15am, sources said. Para Commandos were eventually joined the operation and two terrorists, including Bhat, were killed.

The other militant who was killed was Faizan Muzaffar Bhatt, also a resident of Tral.

A search operation was on for the third militant.

Sources said security forces have so far recovered an AK-47 rifle, an INSAS rifles and a large quantity of ammunition from the encounter site.

Sources have also said that currently there are about 350 militants in the Kashmir Valley, out of whom 150 are from Pakistan.

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