news details |
|
|
| Abdullah Uni's deputy killed in Sopore | | Critically injured soldier airlifted to military hospital | | Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
srinagar, Feb 21: Lashkar-e-Tayyiba chief Abdullah Uni's second-in-command and top wanted Pakistani militant, Abu Akash Badar, has been killed in a fierce gunbattle in Sopore today even as a critically wounded soldier was evacuated and airlifted to a military hospital in Srinagar.
Authoritative sources disclosed to Early Times that Special Operations Group (SOG) of Srinagar District Police received a tip off over telephone in the forenoon today about the presence of a couple of Pakistani cadres of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba at the residential house of a carpenter, namely Mushtaq Ahmad Najar, close to Sopore-Kupwara bypass in Noorbagh locality of Sopore. Alerted immediately, Sopore Police, in coordination with a unit of Rashtriya Rifles 22 Bn, launched a cordon-and-search operation in the locality at 1400 hours.
Officials associated with the operation said that the identified house of Mushtaq Najar was found locked from outside. Police and troops traced the house owner to another house in the neighbourhood. Leading Police back to his house, Najar revealed that his 19-year-old son was inside. Called out, Najar's son as well as Najar maintained that no more human beings---inmates, guests or militants---were left in the house. Search of the three-storeyed house yielded nothing.
Making third and the last attempt of tracing the militants, head constable Ghulam Mohammad of Sopore Police and a Naik of RR 22 Bn got suspicious of some movement on the second floor. Suddenly, one of the hiding militants fired bursts of gunfire from his assault rifle, causing critical injuries to the soldier in his aim. Ghulam ducked and he was not hurt. The shootout and quick retaliation from the head constable triggered off a fierce gunbattle that lasted for about six hours.
During the gunbattle, one or two militants came down to the first floor and engaged troops in a long exchange of gunfire. The injured soldier and Ghulam got trapped on the second floor of the house.
SP Sopore, Imtiyaz Hussain Mir, admitted that a soldier got critically wounded in the operation. He said that Army quickly arranged a helicopter that carried the soldier all the way from Sopore to Srinagar. He was admitted to Army's 92 Base Hospital. Doctors attending on the soldier are quoted to have said that his recovery was "extremely difficult".
At around 1830 hours, one militant came down on the ground floor and ran away towards the outer cordon. However, alert soldiers holding the outer cordon shot him dead. He was later admitted as Abu Akash Badar of Multan, Pakistan. Officials maintained that Badar was deputy to Lashkar's slain "chief commander" and the Valley's most wanted militant Abdullah Uni who died in an encounter in Sopore in the middle of September last year.
Officials said that cordon-and-search operation was underway as Police and troops were not yet sure whether there had been only one or more militants in the hideout. They said that the cordon would be maintained and fresh house-to-house searches carried out in the forenoon on Tuesday. Sources said that Police and troops were now looking for Lashkar's last identified militant and Pakistani commander Fahad in Sopore area.
Akash Badar, according to Police sources, was a close lieutenant of the outfit's J&K chief, Azhar Malik S/o Riyaz Malik of Multan, Pakistan. Uni was eliminated in an encounter by Police and Army in Batpora locality of Sopore on September 13th, 2011. According to Police records, Uni had operated in Kupwara district from 2002 to 2007. Thereafter, he established a strong base in Sopore and re-organised his group with mobilization of dozens of long surviving guerrillas and fresh recruits. Uni's death proved to be decisive strike as Lashkar's base began shrinking fast but creating room for the Kashmiri-dominated Hizbul Mujahideen. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
