With these arrests, police also claim to have solved the killing of a contractor Nazir Ahmad Lone in Keller village of Baramulla district on February 28 by two unidentified gunmen.

"We have arrested five militants from Keller involved in the killing of Nazir Ahmad," Khan said. Khan said the killing was the result of a business rivalry and a contractor Abdul Hamid had paid the militants for killing Nazir.

The police officer said that former Hizb commanders Ahsan Dar and Muzaffar Dar motivated the group to form two modules which operated in Kreeri and Palhalan villages of Baramulla. The Dar duo had chalked out a hitlist of 16 people to be eliminated by the two militant modules, he said.

Khan said five out of seven militants of the module have been arrested while one more militant of the Palhalan module has been arrested. Bashir Ahmad Bukhari a local priest has also been arrested, he said. Police have said that they have also recovered three Chinese pistols, four grenade launchers, a letter pad of Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen (TuM) militant outfit and ammunition from the arrested militants.