Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Nov 12: Army inquiry into the firing by an Army party on a Sumo in which two Army personnel were killed and one injured in Central Kashmir district of Budgam last month has found that police had informed the Army unit about the militant movement in a Sumo in the area.
Sources said that Police passed information about the movement of militants to newly established Army camp of 53-Rashtriya Rifles that was set up in the outskirts of Srinagar in village Chatergam of central Kashmir district of Budgam in the evening of October 23.
Army immediately rushed a party to the main road near the camp to lay an ambush to trap the militants who as per the police information had boarded a Tata Sumo. They set up a check post and were conducting vehicle checking and frisking when a Tata Sumo that was asked to stop failed to respond and was fired up by the troops of 53 RR.
The sumo was carrying Army personnel of 35-RR who were also working on an information about the presence of militants in the area. Three Army personnel Ghulam Ahmad Sheikh, Abdul Rauf and Naik Setien Toa who were travelling in the Sumo were injured in the firing.
The injured Army men were immediately removed to hospital where Ghulam Ahmad Sheikh was declared bought dead by the doctors. Abdul Rauf succumbed to injuries at the 92-Base Hospital in Srinagar’s Badami Bagh Cantonment while Naik Setien Toa is still under treatment.
The Army men of Chattergam based 53-RR mistook the Army personnel travelling in Sumo bearing registration number JK04-7104 as militants as per the information provided by the police and fired upon them.
Sources said that the police source probably had misled the police as he might have mistaken the Army men in Sumo as militants. This is for the second time this year where the source has misled the security forces leading to the killings. But it has not been established yet whether it was deliberate attempt on part of police source or not. Earlier, in July this year a civilian Hilal Ahmad Dar was killed in the Army firing after an Army source deliberately misled an Army unit who fired on him after they mistook him for a militant. The source in Bandipora firing had misled the Army for monitory benefits.
The 53-RR Chattergam Army camp, the personnel of whom fired on Army, was set up in early October after growing activities of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) in the area. A day before the shootout took place, 4 LeT militants had fled to the same area after carrying out attack on a local hotel, Silver Star, killing two employees and injuring an equal number of them.
Since this year’s July 7 attack on Army in nearby Pampore town on the national highway in which one Army man was killed and another critically injured, Army and police is conducting massive search operations and patrols in the area to nab LeT militants responsible for the attack on Army.
The area from Nowgam Railway Station to Awantipora on the western side of river Jehleum had become the hot bed of the LeT where they had set up their base as this area had remained unattended following improvement in the situation and removal of several security camps in South and Central Kashmir. The setting up of the camp in Chattergam was decided in the review meeting of the security agencies following July 7 attack on Army.
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