The Army on Friday killed the Lashkar-e-Tayiba mastermind responsible for last year's blasts in New Delhi on Diwali eve, which killed over 50 people and wounded dozens of others.

"Ali Baba alias Abu Huzefa was killed after a sustained gun battle at Kreeri in Baramulla district," a defence spokesman said on Friday evening.

"Troops of 29 Rashtriya Rifles launched a swift and surgical operation following information that Ali Baba had been hiding in the Kreeri area. He was cornered in a nallah resulting in a sustained gun battle at the end of which the militant was killed," Colonel A K Mathur said.

"It was a planned and swift operation without causing any collateral damage to civilian life or property," he added.

"Ali Baba, who was a self styled deputy divisional commander of LeT, had been responsible for planning the serial bombings in New Delhi on Diwali eve last year," Colonel Mathur said.

He said, "The dreaded terrorist who was a resident of Sindh in Pakistan had been active in the north Kashmir areas of Pattan and Sopore for the past two years and had escaped security force dragnet a number of times."