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| Fierce gunbattles ruin Eid festivity in Kashmir Maj among 5 soldiers, | | 4 ultras killed in Valley | | Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Sep 23: Infiltration of sizeable groups of heavily armed cadres of Lashkar-e-Toiba from Pakistani-controlled Kashmir in the last few months—that has been, of lat, seriously noticed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as well as Union Home Minister P Chidambaram---has begun to show in a big way in Kashmir valley. Close on the heels of three major attacks on Police and CRPF in the Capital city, four soldiers---including a Major---and four militants have died in two fierce gunbattles between militants and security forces in Bandipore and Rafiabad areas in north Kashmir.
Authoritative sources told Early Times that working on certain intelligence inputs available with Bandipore Police, troops of Rashtriya Rifles 13th Bn swooped on Banyari village on the banks of Wular Lake, near Ajas, in Bandipore area last night. Troops from Para 01 and Para 04, besides CRPF 45 Bn, also joined the major operation later. According to the specific information, two of senior most commanders of Pakistani militants, identified as Pasha and Abu Moosa, were hiding at a cluster of residential houses.
Conducting house-to-house search of suspected dwelling units, three Majors of RR 13th Bn, followed by dozen-odd riflemen, stormed the house of one Abdul Rehman Mir. Finding the officers not following the Standard Operational Procedure (SOP), at least two holed up militants struck on them with intense gunfire. All the three officers and some other soldiers sustained injuries. Even as most of the troopers succeeded in coming out and taking positions, two of their critically wounded colleagues failed to return. Both of them got killed in hand-to-hand gunfight with the militants. They were identified as Maj Suresh Suri and Naik Khushal Singh.
Sources said that the holed up militants in control of the house took into custody arms and ammunition of the two soldiers killed and offered tough resistance for more than 18 hours. Troops finally destroyed the target house with IEDs after they learned that both of the trapped soldiers had died. Both the militants got killed. Defence sources identified them as Pasha and Abu Moosa and claimed that they had been operating in Sopore-Bandipore belt for the last six to eight years. Officials said that on account of his fierce strikes on security forces, Pasha carried a reward of Rs one million on his head.
SP Bandipore, Sheikh Junaid Mehmood, said that all of the injured soldiers, including two Majors---Gautam Raj Reshi and Kamlesh Kumar---had sustained minor injuries and none of them was critical. He said that only one residential house, used by the militants as their hideout, suffered damage and there was no civilian casualty in the whole operation. According to him, both the Pakistani militants, Pasha and Abu Moosa, were initially from Harkatul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba respectively but since the beginning of this year they had been operating with the local cadres of Hizbul Mujahideen. A Police spokesman later described Pasha and Abu Moosa as “District Commanders” of Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba respectively.
Speaker of Legislative Assembly, Mohammad Akbar Lone, has asked the authorities to visit Banyari and ensure that no damage or harassment was caused to the innocent civilian population in the village that falls in his constituency of Sonawari in Bandipore district.
Meanwhile, sources said that the three-day-long combing operation of Rashtriya Rifles 32 Bn and Marine Commandoes (Marcos) in Tangmulla forest area of Rafiabad in Baramulla district concluded in the afternoon today with the death of two militants and equal number of troopers. Sources said that troops had launched the operation in forest area after learning about the movement of a group of militants. While as both the militants killed in the fierce gunbattle remained unidentified till late tonight, officials identified the soldiers killed as Subedar Chandershekhar of Marcos and Rifleman Sultankar Divakar of RR 32 Bn.
Sources said that three more soldiers sustained injuries but none of them was critical.
Reports from Baramulla said that troops were still in search of other members of the militant group who were suspected to have escaped but hiding in the same area in Panzla. However, spokesman at headquarters 15 Corps, Col J S Brar, said that both the operations had concluded.
Today’s gunbattles, that have taken toll of eight militants and soldiers, have happened close on the heels of two fatal guerrilla strikes on CRPF and Police in Srinagar followed by a deadly IED blast which hit a bus of District Police Pulwama outside Srinagar Central Jail and left five persons, including a civilian woman, dead.
In the last two weeks, both, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as well as Home Minister P Chidambaram, have seriously expressed their concern over the infiltration of freshly trained militants into Jammu & Kashmir from across the LoC and claimed that hundreds more were waiting for their turn with the support of Pakistani authorities. These tough and terse statements from the leadership in New Delhi have for the time being silenced the ruling National Conference’s and the opposition PDP’s champions of demilitarization and withdrawal of J&K Arms Forces Special Powers Act. |
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