J&K: More fidayeen strikes planned, security men alerted

Srinagar, March 16: Security forces in Jammu and Kashmir were alerted on Friday after the arrested fidayeen Abu Talha alias Zubair Ahmed, a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) man, said that the terror outfit had sent nine militants through the Uri sector in north Kashmir to carry out suicide attacks as an act of protest against the execution of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru on February 9.

Talha was arrested by the state police late on Thursday from the Chatabal area here after he had managed to escape during Wednesday's encounter with the security personnel here. Five CRPF personnel were killed and several others were injured after the terrorists, in guise of cricket players, attacked the camp. Two terrorists were also killed.

Police sources said that Abu Talha, a man from Multan in Pakistan, was leading a group of 12-odd fidayeen who had entered Kashmir within days of Guru's execution. Talha revealed that several local youths, mainly from Uri and Pattan, helped the attackers to reach Srinagar and also arranged for their stay in the house of Ghulam Nabi Dar, a visually challenged man in Chatabal locality, very close to the CRPF camp where the attack had taken place.

Police said Talha had reached Srinagar two days before the attack and took stock of the camp in Bemina area. He also told that the two terrorists, who were killed in the counter, reached Srinagar the day before the attack. Talha himself had dropped the two members near the camp gate.

Police said Talha was asked by the Pakistani masterminds not to personally take part in the Bemina attack for he would be assigned the task of leading another attack. The interrogators recovered his mobile phone from the Kashmiri boys who assisted him and were going through the call details.

Talha fled the spot during the search operation inside the camp by starting fire to divert the attention of the CRPF men, who were mostly unarmed. The police and the CRPF men were hunting for the remaining six militants and the two local youths who had given them logistical support.

Meanwhile, life remained stagnant in Kashmir for the second successive day due to the curfew imposed by the authorities in the wake of Wednesday's attack and the killing of a youth in CPRF firing.

OneIndia News