Four suspected Harkat-ul-Mujaheedin militants killed in Gujarat

Ahmedabad, Mar 17 (UNI) In a wee-hour encounter, Gujarat police today gunned down four suspected Harkat-ul-Mujaheedin militants in a residential complex of Vatva area of the city.

Joint Police Commissioner P P Pandey said their motive was to spread terror through blasts and target VIPs.

One kilogram of suspected RDX, IEDs, detonators, four automatic pistols, three cell-phones, a CD, some documents, jehadi literature and Rs 1.21 lakh in cash, have been seized from the encounter site, he said.

The four succumbed to injuries in the hospital. A constable, Akhtar Hussain, was injured in the incident when a bullet pierced through his hand while a police inspector escaped unhurt as a bullet hit his bullet-proof jacket.

The identity of the militants was yet to be established, he said.

''We are in touch with the Jammu and Kashmir police and Delhi police to ascertain their identity. Some documents recovered from them reveal that they could be connected to the Harkat group,'' he told reporters here. Initial reports had said two of the slain militants were Pakistanis.

Mr Pandey said the police had intelligence inputs that militant organisations like Jaish-e-Mohammad and Harkat-ul-Mujaheedin were trying to spread their tentacles in Western India and wanted to influence more and more Muslims to join their network.

''We were on high alert following the Ahmedabad railway station and Varanasi blasts. Acting on a tip-off that some persons were living in a house in Ganga row house complex, who had weapons and RDX-like substances, we raided the complex,'' Mr Pandey said.

The four opened fire on the police team, which retaliated. From the way the mlitants conducted the firing, it seemed as though they were professionally trained,'' he added.

The encounter took place between 0200 hrs to 0230 hrs in the Ganga row house complex near railway track in Vatva area.

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