Naik Rajendra Singh who got killed in the encounter in Ramban on Saturday, September 28, 2019. PTI

Ramban/Jammu/Srinagar, September 28

A top Hizbul Mujahideen ‘commander’ who is suspected to have a role in the assassinations of senior BJP leaders and an RSS functionary was killed along with two other militants in a nine-hour operation in which a jawan lost his life in Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, officials said.

The militants, identified as Osama and his associates Zahid and Farooq, were gunned down after they tried to escape from a house where they had barged in while being chased by security forces following a brief exchange of fire in Batote area along Jammu-Kishtwar national highway early this morning, they said, adding a house-owner was also rescued after the encounter ended.

Osama was the brain behind several sensational incidents, including the killings of senior BJP leader Anil Parihar and his brother Ajit Parihar on November 1, 2018, and RSS functionary Chanderkant Sharma and his PSO on April 9, officials said. He was carrying a reward of several lakhs of rupees and was also wanted in three weapon snatching incidents in Kishtwar town.

Despite repeated attempts to make them surrender, the militants tried to escape from the house while firing indiscriminately on the forces and were eliminated in the encounter, they said.

“All the three terrorists were killed in the gunfight, while an army soldier also achieved martyrdom,” Jammu-based Army PRO Lt Col Devender Anand told PTI.