Hizbul terrorist group leader Syed Sallahuddin

The police's claim came after three militants were on Friday killed in an overnight encounter with security forces in the Chewa Ular area of Tral in south Kashmir's Pulwama district

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Friday claimed that there was no presence of Hizbul Mujahideen militants in the Tral area of Pulwama district now -- the first time since the outbreak of militancy in the Valley in 1989.

The police's claim came after three militants were on Friday killed in an overnight encounter with security forces in the Chewa Ular area of Tral in south Kashmir's Pulwama district.

"After today's #successful ops (operations), no presence of HM #terrorist in #Tral area. It has happened for first time since 1989," Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Vijay Kumar said in a tweet on the Kashmir zone police's official Twitter handle.

The Hizbul Mujahideen was a dominant force in Kashmir after the militancy broke out in the valley as the outfit had several thousand cadres at the peak of insurgency. Several top commanders of the outfit, including Burhan Wani and Zakir Musa, were from the Tral area.