Kashmir: five LeT commanders hiding in cop’s house escape

Kashmir: five LeT commanders

 hiding in cop’s house escape

Five top Lashkar-e-Toiba commanders hiding in the house of a railway police constable Monday managed to flee after a gunfight with government forces in which an army trooper was killed and two others were injured, highly placed sources told Kashmir Dispatch.

 The sources said Lashkar’s South Kashmir divisional commander Abu Qasim, Budgam district commander Dujana, Ali district commander and Basharat and Irshad commanders in Pulwom were hiding in the house of policeman Bashir Ahmad Magray in Kaisermula in Choodur locality of Budgam district when government forces launched searches.

 Qasim carries a bounty of Rs 10 lakhs and has been active in Kashmir since past six years, sources said, adding: he had recently shifted from Pulwom.

 Sources in the police said that Qasim is instrumental in the resurgence of militancy in South Kashmir and had operated from North Kashmir in the initial years. "The other militants have been active for three to four years," an officer in police said.

 Sources said the railway police constable Magray is posted in Anantnag. “We are coordinating with top officers from Ananatnag district and he will be called for question and could face arrest,” a senior police official in Budgam said.

 Acting on a tip off, army 53 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) and police’s Special Operation Group (SOG) cordoned off Kaisermula and started search operation. “As the forces zeroed in a residential house, militants present there resorted to indiscriminate firing resulting in injuries to four army men,” sources said.

 The injured army men were rushed to Army’s 92 Base hospital in Badam Bagh Cantonment where an injured army men Mir Mushtaq of Chodur, succumbed to his injuries. The slain belonged to 162 Battalion of Territorial Army and was attached with 53 RR.

 The other three injured army men Rifleman Jogindra, Rifleman Sandeep Kumar and Rifleman Teerath Kumar are recuperating at the hospital.

 Heavy firing continued between holed up militants and government forces for nearly an hour.

 Army’s Srinagar-based spokesman, Lt. Col NN Joshi, confirmed the death of an army trooper in the encounter. He said that the operation is going on.

 Additional reinforcements of SOG Srinagar, SOG Budgam and army were sent to the area and search operation was also carried out in adjacent Naibogh and Bogam localities to track down the militants.