Jammu, Apr 26 (IANS): Jammu and Kashmir Police on Thursday said that one of the four militants killed in Tuesday's gunfight in the Tral forest area was a Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) operational commander.

State Director General of Police (DGP), S.P. Vaid said: "Operational commander of JeM Mufti Yasir was among those killed in the joint operation in upper reaches of Tral."

Four JeM militants, one soldier and a state police constable were killed in the over eight-hour long gunfight.

The DGP has also uploaded a picture on Twitter of the slain militant showing him alongside Masood Azhar, the founder of JeM.

The picture had been taken in Pakistan few years ago by the media there.

Azhar was released from Kotbalwal jail in Jammu district in 1999 and taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan where he was swapped with the 158 passengers of Indian Airlines flight IC 814 taken hostage.

Two other militant commanders, Sheikh Omar and Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar were also swapped in addition to Azhar for the release of hostages.

The flight was hijacked from Kathmandu and after a stopover at Amritsar it was taken to Kandahar.