M A I N   N E W S

Minister’s house attacked
NC leader among 7 shot

SRINAGAR, Jan 11 (UNI, PTI) — Militants of Jamait-ul-Mujahideen attacked the house of state Home Minister Mushtaq Ahmad Lone in the frontier district of Kupwara while an attempt was made to blow up the telephone exchange at Doda today.

In other militancy-related incidents in the state, a ruling national conference leader and four militants were among seven persons killed during the past 24 hours.

An official spokesman said militants attacked the house of Mr Lone at Sogam Lolab in the north Kashmir district of Kupwara late last night with automatic weapons. The security forces posted there returned the fire. Two security jawans were injured in the gun battle.

The Jamait-ul-Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Minister’s house.

Militants hurled a bomb at the telephone exchange at Doda today. However, the bomb exploded without causing damage.

This was the second attack on the exchange during the past 48 hours. A similar bid was made on January 8.

A ruling National Conference leader and two Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militants and a Lashkar-e-Toiba ultra were killed and two security jawans injured in the Kashmir valley during the past 24 hours.

Militants fired upon the Central Reserve Police Force party at Mushpuna of Pulwama in south Kashmir around 1 p.m. this afternoon. The security forces returned the fire and in the shootout, two Hizb militants were killed.

Official sources said gunmen killed Ghulam Mohammad Mir, National Conference halqa president, at Vilgam in north Kashmir last night.

Security forces killed a militant in an encounter at Magam Handwara last evening. One AK rifle and three magazines were recovered from the slain militant. Militants attacked a security force post at Sogam in north Kashmir last evening with automatic weapons and grenades. Forces retaliated and in the shootout two jawans were injured. Militants escaped to the forests.

Militants and security forces exchanged fire at Kunzar in Baramula district late last night. There were no reports of casualties.

Security forces detected and defused a live grenade at Ikhwan road, Nowpora, this morning.

JAMMU: Army troops foiled an infiltration bid in Mendhar sector and shot dead two intruders along the border in Jammu and Kashmir since Wednesday, official reports said on Thursday. Alert Army troops, on noticing a group of four intruders entering Indian territory from across the Line of Control (LoC) in Mendhar sector of Poonch district, challenged them but the intruders opened fire which was countered.

In the ensuing firefight one intruder was killed while others escaped towards Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

In another incident, BSF troops shot dead a Pakistani intruder when he entered the Indian side from across the international border.

The reports said that the Army averted a major tragedy by timely detection of a improvised explosive device (IED) on a road near Surankote in Poonch district during the period. The IED was later defused.