Top HUJI commander, 2 Lashker militants killed

Srinagar, May 29 : A top commander of Harkat-Ul-Jehad-Islami (HUJI) and two militants of Pakistan based Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) were killed and two over ground workers were arrested in the Kashmir valley today.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Munir Khan told UNI that troops of 2 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) and Special Operation Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir had prior information that a group of militants will sneak into the city from the outskirts using the Parimpora bypass route.

He said an operation ws planned in the entire area and after a long wait two militants were noticed coming from the Motor garage side. When challenged and asked to surrender, militants opened fire which was returned by the ambush party.

Both the militants, who have not been identified as yet, were killed, Mr Khan said adding two AK rifles, magazines and grenades were recovered from the slain militants.

He said as per the arms and ammunition recovered, both the militants belongs to Pakistan based LeT.

A defence ministry spokesman said one RR, 162 Territorial Army (TA) and SOG of Anantnag conducted a search operation at Moran Hall Khanabal in south Kashmir early this morning following information that some militants were hiding there.

However, when the troops were sealing the area, militants fired upon them with automatic weapons. The fire was returned and in the fierce clash a HUJI District Commander (DC) Mohammad Rafiq Turkhan alias Tufail was killed. One AK rifle, three magzines and 67 rounds of ammunition were recovered from the slain militant.

The spokesman said security forces arrested two LeT over ground workers, allegedly involved in the killing of a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Ghulam Qadir Baig at Watherhal.

UNI