Jammu, Aug 17 - A commander of terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, Altaf Hussain, was killed in a shootout with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district Monday morning, police said.

A police spokesman said that security forces, after receiving a tip-off, raided the militant's hideout in Mahore area. Hussain is said to be responsible for many murders, shootouts and planting bombs.

Mahore is about 150 km north of Jammu.

'It is a big success for the security forces and a big blow to the militant outfit because Altaf Hussain was a key commander of Hizbul Mujahideen,' the spokesman said.

In the past one week, security forces have killed eight militants, most of them belonging to Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba, in the mountainous and forested region north of Jammu in the Himalayan heights of the Pir Panjal range.