M A I N   N E W S

2 holed-up militants shot

Army men patrol an area near a snow-capped mountain after a siege of a mosque at Tutigund village, 75 km north of Srinagar, on Saturday.  — Reuters photo

Srinagar, February 9
A 20-hour siege to a mosque in Kupwara district ended early today after Army’s sharpshooters gunned down two Pakistani militants from Sialkot in a heavy exchange of firing when they tried to escape.

The militants owing allegiance to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) including a self-styled district commander of the outfit, were killed around 4.30 a.m. after a fierce shootout which damaged a portion of the mosque at Tutigund in North Kashmir, 72 km from here, a defence spokesman said.

A water tank and adjoining bathrooms of the mosque were damaged, he said.

A civilian, Asadullah Dar, was also killed during the siege which began after the militants took shelter in the mosque around 8.30 a.m. yesterday.

The militants had been identified as Ghulam Shakoor, alias Abu Danyal, alias Abu Hamza Baba, a self-styled district commander of the JeM, and Shabir, alias Rashid, both residents of Sialkot in Pakistan.

The militants tried to escape but were cornered by the troops near the “hamam” of the mosque and were shot dead by the sharpshooters after an exchange of firing.

Two AK rifles with 12 magazines, a UBGL with six grenades, 12 hand grenades and two pouches were seized from the militants who turned down several appeals to surrender and engaged the securitymen in a gunbattle, the spokesman said.

The stand-off began yesterday when BSF personnel on a routine patrol had a chance encounter with the militants at Tutigund. After a brief encounter, the militants escaped and took shelter in the mosque.

The troops, chased them and laid a siege to the mosque.

The crisis took a dramatic turn at one stage when the militants held hostage four civilians including the imam, who had gone inside to appeal to the militants to surrender.

However, they let off the civilians without any harm but hardened their posture by resorting to grenade-throwing and intermittent gunfire towards the troops but there was no casualty.

The civilian, whom the authorities initially claimed to be a militant and killed in the retaliatory action, was a villager who died of cardiac arrest near the mosque.

Meanwhile, two militants were killed and a civilian was injured in a gun-battle with the security forces in Badgam district of Central Kashmir today, a police spokesman said here.

The encounter broke out when troops of the Rashtriya Rifles cordoned off Lawaypora village in the Beerwah area following specific information about the presence of some militants.

The militants, finding themselves trapped, opened fire on the search parties and in the ensuing gunfight, two militants were killed. A civilian was injured when he was caught in the shootout.

Two Hizb-ul Mujahideen militants were nabbed by the BSF during a raid in the Ganderbal area here, a BSF spokesman said today.

The raids were carried out last night on specific information.

JAMMU: One villager sustained bullet injuries when Pakistan Rangers unleashed fire from heavy machine guns on the border out-post in the Benglar area of the Samba sector on Saturday afternoon.

Shiv Ram was hit by a bullet while he was resting in his courtyard. He was rushed to a nearby Army Hospital where he is undergoing treatment.

Meanwhile, Indian and Pakistani border guards exchanged firing along the international border in almost all the sectors of the Jammu region, including, the Ranbir Singh Pura, Hiranagar, Samba, Ramgarh, Kanachak and Akhnoor sectors. PTI, UNI