Two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants and three security personnel were killed in the Kashmir Valley on Friday. One militant and five militant supporters were arrested, as security agencies warned of heightened militant activities ahead of winters.
In a joint operation by the Army and the police, the hour-long gunfight started around 7.45 a.m., in Bandipora’s Manzpora village, around 30 km away from Srinagar. Two AK-47 and one under-barrel grenade launcher were recovered from the slain militants, whose identity could not be ascertained immediately, a defence spokesman said.
One soldier was critically injured who later succumbed in the hospital,” said a police officer.
Scores of locals held street protests demanding a funeral for the militants. “The bodies were taken to Uri in Baramulla district and handed over to a local Auqaf Committee for the final rites,” said sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Sumbal Rashid Akbar.
In south Kashmir, militants in Kulgam town, 70 km south of Srinagar, attacked a police patrol, killing two and injuring another personnel. The deceased policemen were identified as head constable Tanveer Ahmad and constable Jalaluddin Khandey. A private vehicle, beleived to be used by the militants, was recovered near Laroo village, Kulgam.
Militant overpowered
Meanwhile, in another operation in north Kashmir’s Sopore area, security forces succeeded in overpowering an armed militant, Abdul Majeed Mir. “Mir had reportedly joined the LeT a month ago,” said a police spokesman.
In central Kashmir, five sympathisers of LeT — identified as Mohammad Iqbal Wani, Farooq Ahmad Bhat, Tanveer-ul-Alam Wani, Tanveer Ahmad Bhat and Raqeeb Rather — were arrested for their involvement in a bank robbery in Budgam district’s Malpora area, in which Rs.12.45 lakh were looted at gunpoint on Monday. “The trail left by assailants was meticulously dealt by using technology as well as human sources. Mohammad Iqbal, Farooq Ahmad and Tanveer Alam Wani, residents of Chewakalan ran a confidential overground worker network of LeT,” said superintendent of police, Pulwama, Rayees Ahmad Bhat.
A police spokesman said, Arif Dar alias Abu Haibat-ul-lah, a resident of Lelhar-Kakapora, Pulwama, who is an active LeT militant, along with two foreign-origin militants — Abu Ali and Abu Ismail — carried out the robbery.
