Srinagar: Militant commander Sameer Tiger had dared the army officer to "face" him. That was on Sunday evening.

By Monday afternoon the Hizbul Mujahideen rebel was dead, tracked down to his home in Pulwama, south Kashmir, by the same officer, Major Rohit Shukla of 44 Rashtriya Rifles.

Sources said the operation launched by the security forces had nothing to do with the militant's dare on video but the coincidence stood out, especially after Tiger's direct and personal challenge to the officer.

The video Tiger had released on Sunday evening showed an alleged informer being questioned. "Tell Shukla that if Tiger stops hunting, the dogs think they rule the woods. If he has drunk mother's milk, tell him to face me," a person, not seen in the video, is heard telling the alleged informer.

Pulwama police chief Mohammad Aslam Chowdhary said the person in the video was questioned by four to five militants and the one who challenged Major Shukla was Tiger himself.

The police officer also said the operation was launched following a tip-off about the presence of two militants in Drabgam village in Pulwama and not in response to Tiger's challenge.

It is not clear whether the officer saw the video but early on Monday he was leading from the front. The special operations group of the police and the CRPF were part of the operation too.

Tiger died along with an associate, Aaqib Khan, after the troopers razed the house they were hiding in. Major Shukla and another soldier were injured in the six-hour gunfight.

The defence spokesman in Srinagar, Col. Rajesh Kalia, said the injured officer and the soldier were both stable and recovering at a hospital.

Pulwama police chief Chowdhary said Major Shukla and Tiger had been caught in such duels several times in the past but the Hizb commander had always escaped.

"He (Tiger) was trapped only 12 hours after he had released the video.... Early in the operation, he (Major Shukla) was fired upon and he received an injury in his shoulder," Chowdhary told The Telegraph.

Massive protests had rocked the encounter area on Monday as a stone-throwing mob tried to disrupt the operation to help the militants escape. One civilian died and several others were injured after the security forces opened fire on the crowd.