M A I N   N E W S

Attack on Police Colony, DIG hurt
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, September 21
Further intensifying the operations against the forthcoming elections in Srinagar and Budgam districts on September 24, active militant outfits today engineered a fresh suicide attack on Police Colony in the Bemina area.

The attack which was launched exactly at 6.45 pm in the guarded Police Colony, left constable Ghulam Mohammad dead and seriously injured six others, including the DIG, Kashmir Range, Mr Farooq Ahmad and his PSO Fayyaz Ahmad. Sher Singh, Abdul Majid and Mohammad Maqbool were among the injured.

The injured have been shifted to Police Hospital where they are being examined. Police sources informed The Tribune that the injured would be later shifted to Bone and Joints Hospital, Burzalla.

Are Al-Qaida men in J&K?
M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 21
If a radio message intercepted by Indian security agencies is any indicator, Al-Qaida men have sneaked into Jammu and Kashmir in the recent weeks for giving teeth to the ongoing subversive violence in the state.

The message sent from the radio station set up by the Hizbul Jehadi Islami (HUJI) outfit in Pakistan to its activists in the Surankot area of Poonch, said, “We are sending five new colleagues towards your area. You keep them with the old commandos. They belong to Rawalpindi. You send two Al-Qaida colleagues who are with you towards our side along with the driver (guide).”

A spokesman of the Army’s Northern Command, while releasing the intercepted message said activists of different militant outfits had been in regular touch with their patrons across the border for receiving day-to-day instructions regarding the modus operandi they were to adopt in disrupting the current Assembly poll.

The presence of Al-Qaida men in the Surankot area was also established by the amount of resistance they have put up during any operation launched by the Indian security forces.

Police sources said it may be the result of the Al-Qaida presence in Surankot that a portion of the townlet continues to be dominated by rebels. And it is in this area that a series of carnages was committed and on the polling day on September 16, several incidents of violence were witnessed in this area.

Al-Qaida men have been infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir to create added terror among the people so that they stay indoors during the polling days. These Al-Qaida activists have been directed to monitor the operations to be launched by the rebel outfits and take suitable measures to check infighting among the militant groups.