Pak commander, top militant's kin among 4 killed in Guj encounter

Ahmedabad, Mar 18 (UNI) A top Harkat-ul-Mujaheedin commander and the brother of a senior leader of the organisation were among the four militants killed yesterday by the Gujarat police in a pre-dawn encounter in Vatva area on the outskirts of the city.

While the third was Mudassar who had come to Gujarat under another name, the fourth was a Pakistani national, whose identity is yet to be established, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Manoj Shashidhar said.

He said their main motive was to spread their network in Western India and target VIPs, and spread terror in public and religious places.

While Azaan, Harkat commander and a Pakistani national was wanted by the Jammu and Kashmir police in a number of cases, Mohammad Ayub Bhatt was brother of Mohammad Yakub Bhatt, who was killed in an encounter in Pulwama in February last year, Mr Shashidhar said.

''The J&K police immediately recognised Azaan, who was operating as a deputy chief of the Harkat,'' he said.

He said Mudassar had come to Gujarat, assuming the name of Javed Ahmed Dar and got admitted in a madrassa here. His objective was to spread the message of jehad and organise more recruitments. He had been involved in a huge bank robbery involving more than Rs 24 lakh in Shopian in 2004, the DCP said.

''Though the identity of the fourth is yet to be established, we are almost certain he is a Pakistani national,'' Mr Shashidhar said.

The encounter had taken place in a house in Ganga Row House Society, near Vinzol railway station. One kg explosive material, suspected to be RDX, four pistols, some ammunition, detonators, three mobile phones (two with local SIM cards and one with a roaming one), Jehadi literature and Rs 1.27 lakh cash were recovered from the site.

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