M A I N   N E W S

Militants gun down moderate
Hurriyat leader in Srinagar
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, September 30
A leader of the separatist Hurriyat Conference was among six persons killed in stepped-up incidents of violence in the Kashmir valley since yesterday.

Unidentified militants shot dead Mohammad Rafiq Shah, a former militant, when they intruded into his house at Chinkral Mohalla here this morning.

The police said Mohammad Rafiq Shah, an employee of the State Road Transport Corporation, was kidnapped from his house and shot dead outside his residence.

A large number of people, including top separatist Hurriyat Conference leaders, attended the burial at the martyrs’ graveyard at Idgah in the afternoon. An APHC spokesman later alleged that the killing of Mohammad Rafiq, chief of the People’s Liberation League, a constituent of the Hurriyat Conference (Abbas), was part of a plan to eliminate the separatist leadership.

The incident has taken place over two weeks after the killing of Peer Hissamuddin, a close aide of Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Peer Hissamuddin was killed under similar circumstances at his Bemina residence here on September 15.

Elsewhere, at least two persons were killed and four others injured when militants detonated an IED near an FCI godown in Baramula town this morning. The IED, fitted in a scooter, went off at about 11 am killing two persons on the spot. They were identified as Shamsuddin Mir, a driver from Bandipore, and Imtiaz Ahmad Dar from the Khwaja Bagh area near Baramula. Others injured in the incident include Abdul Rashid, Ghulam Mohammad Lone, Abdul Rashid Dhobi and Ali Mohammad Shah.

An unidentified militant was killed in an encounter with the security forces at Hiller Arahama in Anantnag district early this morning, the police said. One pistol with magazine and two rounds, one hand grenade, a wireless set and some incriminating documents were seized from the site of encounter.

The police recovered a beheaded body of Ghulam Hassan Khan near Magam village in Anantnag district today. He had been kidnapped by unidentified gunman on Monday night from his house in the village.

One person, Zahoor Ahmad Lone, who was injured when fired upon by militants in the Ganderbal area of Srinagar district last evening, succumbed to his injuries in a hospital here this morning.