Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, May 23: A top Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant commander today gave slip to security forces in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district second time in last fortnight.
LeT divisional commander, Mohammad Qasim, gave slip to Army, Special Operation Group (SOG) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) at Worwan village of Pulwama today.
On a tip off about the presence of Qasim in a Pulwama village, Army’s 55 Rashtriya Rifles (RR), 182 and 183 battalions of CRPF and SOG cordoned off Worwan village and launched searches. The LeT divisional commander and his associate managed to flee from the village as security forces were cordoning it.
Qasim is most wanted militant commander in Kashmir valley and is chief of the LeT in South Kashmir. He is brain behind major militant strikes in Kashmir valley during past few years. He gave slip to security forces in South Kashmir’s district of Shopian on May 8.
Security agencies are after Qasim for last so many years. Sources said that he makes his movements carefully and doesn’t come in contact with the Over Ground Workers (OGWs) except few trusted ones. He mostly uses Skype to communicate with his handlers across in Pakistan.
In December 2013, Qasim managed to slip out of cordon by firing at security forces at village Ichkote in Central Kashmir’s district of Budgam.
The major hunt for Qasim is on since June 2013 when LeT under his command attacked an Army convoy at Hyderpora in Srinagar’s Bypass, ahead of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Srinagar, killing eight Army personnel.
Prior to fleeing from security cordon at Budgam, Qasim slipped out of cordon in village Brinail in Pirpanchal mountains of South Kashmir on August 29, 2013. He is commanding LeT in South Kashmir since October 2012 after the killing of LeT commander Abdul Rehman alias Rehman Bhai.
Qasim who was in Dacchigam area in the outskirts of Srinagar after his infiltration in 2012 and shifted to South Kashmir soon after the killing of Rehman Bhai to become divisional commander of LeT for South Kashmir. He lied low and was hiding in the Dacchigam forests for almost 18 months before he became divisional commander of LeT South Kashmir in 2012.
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