Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Oct 21: Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) suffered a major jolt this afternoon as security forces killed divisional commander of the outfit and the mastermind behind failed attempts to bomb country’s capital New Delhi; and his associate in Sopore area of North Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
The operation that was launched yesterday in Sopore’s Shallapora locality ended this afternoon with the killing of two LeT militants. Police identified the two dead militants as a local militant, Muzamil Amin Dar @ Urfi @ Abu Hushaam and a Pakistani national Abdullah Shaheen. Muzamil was divisional commander of the LeT, North Kashmir.
Theatre Assistant at Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital in Srinagar, Muzamil’s name surfaced when Delhi police busted a LeT module tasked to bomb market places in Delhi in early March this year. Police said he was also involved in the killing of SPO Riyaz Ahmed last month and several other killings.
Police suspected that he was the mastermind of the failed bombing plot in Delhi for which Jammu and Kashmir police provided information to Delhi Police in February this year. Two suspected LeT militants Ahtisham and Taufeeq Ahmad Peer were arrested by Delhi and Jarkhand Police in February last week.
Muzamil 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 his house at the time of the raid but was in SMHS hospital and since then he never returned 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 and questioned.
IGP Kashmir, S M Sahai, said that Muzamil was involved in hatching a conspiracy to bomb Delhi markets. He said that on the basis of information provided by the Kashmir Police, Delhi police arrested his two accomplices. He said that police was after him since he went into hiding in February.
The IGP said that he along with LeT commander Fahadullah were trying to target Srinagar city and Sopore town. He said that since Muzamil was planning the attacks, his killing is a major success for the security forces.
While giving details of the operation, the IGP said that a joint operation of Sopore police, 22 RR and CRPF was launched at Shallapora, Sopore yesterday. “The operation was put on hold last night to avoid casualties”, he added.
The IGP said that the operation was resumed this morning when a joint search party tried to storm the target house, triggering an encounter. An Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), Kafeel Ahmad of Jammu and Kashmir Police and an Army Jawan Gurjan Singh of 22 RR were injured during the initial gunbattle early in the morning.
The intermittent firing continued till afternoon in which both the militants were killed. Three houses in which these two militants were hiding during the encounter were raised to rubble while over a dozen of houses were partially damaged in the gunfight. The bodies of the two militants were recovered from the rubble of these houses.
It may be mentioned here that around 60-70 civilians including children and women were rescued from Shallapora yesterday when the operation was launched. One CRPF jawan, Sumit Kumar, was injured in the initial fire fight yesterday.
Tension prevailed in the militancy infested township with youth pelting stones on police and security forces at several places. The bodies were kept in the SOG headquarters and were handed over to the relatives of Muzamil late night.
Meanwhile, Police recovered arms and ammunition in South Kashmir’s Kulgam District last evening.
Police said that acting on specific information, Kulgam Police along with 9RR and 18 Battalion of CRPF conducted a search operation in Panjannad forests of Kulgam. “During the search of the forest area a hideout was busted. Arms and ammunition was recovered from the hideout”, police added.
Police said that the recoveries include one AK 47 rifle with Magazine, 130 AK rounds, 3 Chinese grenades, 3 kilogrammes of RDX and two detonators.
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