M A I N   N E W S

50 kg of RDX, rockets seized
Biggest haul in Kupwara; 14 killed in valley

Srinagar, May 12
In one of the biggest seizures in recent times, the Army today recovered a huge haul of arms and ammunition, including 50 kg of RDX, even as 14 persons, including four security personnel and seven militants, were killed in separate incidents in Jammu and Kashmir.

Troops smashed two militant hideouts at Borinar and Murdaigali in Kupwara district and seized 50 kg of RDX, four RPG rockets, a 106-mm rocket, 34 grenades of various types, a 60-mm bomb, 10 remote control devices, eight chargers and eight detonators, a defence spokesman said.

Two security personnel were killed and two others wounded when a landmine went off on the Somawali Boniyar road in Baramula district last night, a police spokesman said.

He said a jawan was killed and two others wounded when militants ambushed a patrol party at Ghambir Mughlian in Manjakote sector yesterday.

Two militants and a jawan were killed in another encounter which followed militant ambush on a joint patrol of the Army and the police at Malhar-Phagla village in the Surankote area last night, the spokesman said.

In two other encounters, the spokesman said security forces gunned down three foreign mercenaries, including a self-styled district commander of the Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Toiba outfit at Sirajpora in Kupwara and Halsidar-Kapran in Anantnag district.

Two more militants, including a self-styled area commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen, Mohammad Hussain, were killed at Sangpora in Doda district yesterday.

The spokesman said 16 persons, including a policeman and a woman, were injured when militants lobbed a grenade at a police vehicle in the bus stand area in Kupwara today.

Militants also lobbed a grenade towards a BSF picket in Sopore town of Baramula around 10.45 am today. None was hurt in the explosion, he said.

The spokesman said ultras also shot dead a village head inside his Warpora residence in Baramula district last night.

Meanwhile, an Ikhwani, Shabir Ahmad, who was seriously injured in a grenade explosion in Anantnag district yesterday succumbed to his injuries last night, he said, adding that unidentified militants barged into a civilian’s house in the Mahore area of Udhampur district last night and shot dead his wife. PTI

CRR cut by 0.5 per cent

Mumbai, May 12
The RBI today announced a reduction in the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by half a percentage point to 7.5 per cent in order to infuse a sum of Rs 4,500 crore into the commercial banks.

The reduction is effective from fortnight beginning May 19. However, there was no revision in the bank rate.

Explaining the reasons behind today’s CRR revision, RBI sources said the objective of releasing resources of the scheduled commercial banks to the extent of about Rs 4,500 crore was to ease the tightening conditions in the markets.

“As per our mid-term policy, we would like to see the CRR at 3 per cent,” sources added. UNI