Srinagar: Police on Saturday said that one among the three militants slain on Saturday morning in a gunfight at Panzgam area of Awantipora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district was involved in killing of an army soldier Aurangzeb last year.

SSP Awantipora Tahir Saleem told GNS that the three militants who were killed in Panzgam today were affiliated with Hizbul Mujahideen outfit.

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He identified the slain trio as Showkat Ahmad Dar of Panzgam Pulwama, Irfan Ahmad of Sopore and Muzzafar Ahmad of Tahab Pulwama.

The officer said that Showkat Dar was directly involved in the killing of the army soldier Rifleman Aurangzeb.

Earlier, the encounter broke out in Panzgam village after a joint team of army’s 55 RR and SOG launched a cordon-and-search operation following inputs about the presence of some militants.

On June 14, 2018, Aurangzeb, a rifleman with 44 Rashtriya Rifles – was kidnapped and shot dead by militants in south Kashmir’s Pulwama when he was travelling in a private vehicle, on his way home in Poonch.