Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Oct 20: A day after Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants struck at Srinagar, security forces this afternoon trapped a top LeT commander and his associate, the mastermind behind failed attempts to bomb country’s capital New Delhi, in Sopore area of North Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
Police said that Sopore police, Army and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) this afternoon launched a joint operation in Shallapora, Sopore after a tip off about the presence of two top LeT commanders, divisional commander Fahadullah and district commander Muzamil Amin Dar alias Urfi Dar.
The operation was launched at around 3 p.m. and the militants present inside a house fired at the security forces resulting in the injuries to one CRPF jawan. Identified as Sumit Kumar, the CRPF jawan was rushed to Sopore hospital for treatment. Militants snatched service weapon of the injured jawan during the gun fight.
More troops were rushed to the area and entire Shallapora was sealed off to prevent militants from fleeing from the cordon. Police and the civil administration rescued about 60-70 civilians including women and children, who were trapped in the encounter before security forces launched house to house searches in the area.
After the first shots were fired, security forces conducted house to house searches of area. Sources said that when last two houses were about to be searched in the densely populated area, militants hurled a grenade towards the security forces. However, no one was hurt.
The security forces later put the operation on hold for the night after they spotted the militants and strengthened the cordon. As they were strengthening the cordon and lighting the area to prevent militants from fleeing, militants fired upon several rounds at them at around 9:45 p.m.
Police, CRPF and Army is on high alert to prevent the two commanders from fleeing the area. In August this year, LeT divisional commander for South Kashmir, Qasim, fled from security cordon in South Kashmir’s Shopian district along with LeT district commander Shopian, Mudasir Sheikh.
The LeT divisional commander for North Kashmir, Fahadullah, is most wanted militants in the North Kashmir. He took over as the divisional commander of LeT after the killing of Ukasha Badar in February this year during an operation in Sopore town. Badar had taken over as Divisional Commander from Abdullah Uni who was killed in last September. Fahadullah is a Pakistani militant who is active in Sopore for past six years.
District Commander Muzamil Amin Dar alias Urfi Dar is a local militant whose name surfaced when Delhi police busted a LeT module, which was tasked to bomb market places in Delhi in early March this year. Police suspected that Dar was the mastermind of the failed bombing plot. Two suspected LeT militants Ahtisham and Taufeeq Ahmad Peer were arrested by Delhi and Jarkhand Police in February last week.
Dar, who was Theatre Assistant at Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital in Srinagar, went into hiding on February 28 this year after police raided his house in Sopore for being mastermind behind Delhi’s failed bombing attempts. He was not present in the house at the time of the raid but was in SMHS hospital and since then he didn’t return his home.
Police raided Dar house on October 16 and asked his family to hand him over to the police but they refused to give any details about him. Finally, his brother Muntazir Dar, a student of University of Kashmir, was picked up by Police on October 17. He has reportedly been shifted to Srinagar where he is being questioned.
The students of Kashmir University today protested against his arrest in the Kashmir University and demanded his immediate release.
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