11 HuM militants, including top commanders, surrender in Doda

Doda, June 5 (UNI) Eleven members of the terrorist outfit Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), including top commanders, laid down their weapons before the security forces at Bhallessa in this mountainous district last night, official sources today said.

Led by their 'divisional commander' Barkat Ali and 'tehsil commander' Abdul Gani, nine other local militants of HuM handed over their arms to the 26 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) and police at Bhallessa, the native place of Jamm ad Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Barkat Ali of Bharti village in Bhallessa had been involved in militant activities since 1993. Members of Barkat's group were motivated to surrender with the help of their close relatives.

''It was the result of a series of initiatives and interactions by the security forces with the close relatives of the militants'' sources said.

This surrender is being seen as a major success of security forces in the terror-torn district.

Others, who surrendered, were Alam Husain of Nalidulu, Javed Iqbal of Chinga, Mansoor Ahmed of Amritpora, Akhtar Husain of Chinga, Talib Hussain of Koti Chilli, Ghulam Hussain of Gowari, Inayatullah Khan of Suroo and Jan Mohammad of Bharti villages of Bhallessa.

Militants also handed over four AK rifles, a Self-Loading Rifle (SLR), a .303 rifle, an INSAS rifle, a pistol, a satellite phone set, nine Radio Sets (Yasu) and seven walki-talkis, beside a huge quantity of ammunition.

Earlier on May 23, ten militants belonging to different outfits surrendered before the authorities along with arms and ammunition soon after crossing the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara district.

UNI