M A I N   N E W S

J&K minister’s house attacked
Shops burnt in Udhampur

SRINAGAR, Feb 11 — Militants attacked the house of Jammu and Kashmir Law Minister and gunned down two special police officers (SPOs) elsewhere in the Kashmir valley, where the Army found bodies of two unidentified persons since yesterday, official sources said today.

Law Minister P.L. Handoo’s house was attacked by unidentified militants who resorted to indiscriminate firing and hurled several grenades at the Idgah area in Anantnag district of South Kashmir last evening. Security personnel guarding the house returned the fire and foiled the “nefarious designs” of the militants who escaped from the scene, the sources said. Handoo and his family was not in the house at the time of the attack, they said, adding two auto-drivers were injured in the crossfiring.

The sources said militants shot dead an SPO Khurshid Ahmad inside his house at Maminder in Shopian area of Pulwama district in South Kashmir early today.

They said a woman SPO Gosia Akhter who was also shot at and critically injured by militants in Pulwama district yesterday, succumbed to injuries early today.

The sources said the Army found bodies of two unidentified persons from Chopran forest in Handwara area of Kupwara district in north Kashmir last night.

The duo were believed to have been killed during an encounter between militants and the Army in the area last evening, they said, adding it was not known whether the deceased were militants or civilians.

Meanwhile, miscreants set ablaze a panchayatgarh at Nownagri in Pulwama district last night, they said.

The security forces killed three Al-Badr militants at Pathan Peer, while another militant was gunned down at Budlideda last evening. Some arms and ammunition were also seized.

One person was killed by militants at Batyas village, while another person Mehraj-ud-Din was injured at Daga when militants opened fire on him through the door of his house when he refused to open it.

Shops and business establishments in Srinagar and other towns of the valley remained close and traffic was off the road in response to a general strike called by the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front to observe the 17th anniversary of the death of its founder chief Mohammad Maqbool Bhat who was hanged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail.

Meanwhile, the Army has busted an underground militant hideout and recovered a "war-like store" dumped with arms and explosives including three disposable rocket launchers and eight claymore mines in Badgam district of Central Kashmir, a defence spokesman said today.

The hideout, measuring 2.6x3x3 metres, was busted by the Army on specific information provided by local civilians at the Magam area yesterday.

Meanwhile, curfew continued in Udhampur for the third day today as tension prevailed over the reported kidnapping of a schoolgirl since February 3.

Even as authorities kept under suspension two police Sub-Inspectors for negligence of duty in the Meenakshi Badyal missing case, a section of people held processions as no trace could be found of the missing girl.

Defying curfew orders, people ransacked and burnt some shops resulting in a clash with the police and the BSF personnel, official sources said. The police resorted to a mild lathicharge and fired teargas shells injuring some protestors, the sources added.

In another development, the police arrested another suspect, Anoop Khajuria, in the case. Vikram Slathia, one of the three suspects, had already been arrested and police were trying to nab Aftab, a government employee, believed to be the main suspect in the “kidnapping” of Meenakshi. — PTI

Lashkar’s threat to target PM

NEW DELHI, Feb 11 — The Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba has threatened to target Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Home Minister Lal Krishan Advani apart from sensitive targets as long as the Indian Army remained in Kashmir.

The leader of the militant group, Mohammed Hafiz Sayeed has also opposed direct talks between India and Pakistan on Kashmir though he welcomed the idea of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference delegation visiting Pakistan but said the Indian Government itself did not want this.

In what is claimed to be his very first media interview, the self-styled leader told the Aajtak news channel that the jehad against India will continue and there will be a repetition of incidents of the kind in Red Fort late last year.

He said the jehad would stop and ways would be found for a long-term solution if the 800,000 men of the Indian Army are pulled out of Kashmir. He said all attacks against civilians and the Army would cease the moment India announces its decision to withdraw troops from the valley. — UNI