A top commander of Islamist militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Abu Qasim, accused of masterminding the Udhampur attack , has been killed in an overnight encounter in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir. Abu Qasim was the most-wanted militant in Kashmir, which India and Pakistan claim in full but rule in part, said Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani, the chief of police in Jammu and Kashmir. A resident of Bahawalpur in Pakistan, 30-year-old Qasim, had planned the attack on a Border Security Force convoy in Udhampur on August 5, according to the National Investigation Agency. Two BSF personnel were killed in that attack.

While one of the terrorists, Mohammed Noman, was killed in retaliatory fire, another, Mohammad Naveed, was later nabbed by villagers.

"It is a major success," Gillani said of the overnight security force operation centred on a village in the south of the Himalayan region.

He also added that killing of Qasim would dent the operational capabilities of LeT and hurt coordination between various militant groups. Qasim was a resident of Bahawalpur city in Pakistan, he said.

Escalating tension over Kashmir led to the cancellation of a meeting between the national security advisers of the nuclear-armed neighbours in August.