In a major success, a top militant commander was gunned down by the Jammu and Kashmir [Images] police in Sopore, 54 km from Srinagar [Images] late on Tuesday evening.

Police said Sajad Afghani, the chief commander of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen was killed late on Tuesday evening.

"On specific information that Sajad Afghani was hiding in a residential quarter near the Sopore hospital, a raiding team of the Special Operations Group of the police surrounded the quarter and challenged the hiding militant commander to surrender," a senior police officer said.

"He, however, resorted to firing at the police, resulting in a short encounter at the end of which Afghani was killed," the officer added.

The officer said arms and ammunition were also recovered from him.