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Incidents involving Lashkar-e-Toiba
2008
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October 6: An LeT militant, Mir
Mohammed, surrendered before police at Shahdara Sharief in the Rajouri
district on October 6. He deposited two pistols, two grenades, three
magazines and 21 rounds .
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October 4: A top militant commander
of the LeT, identified as Ibrar Ahmed alias Abu Ubaid, was shot
dead by security force personnel during an encounter at Dodimal
in Targain area of Budhal in the Rajouri district.
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October 2: Two LeT militants were
killed during in an encounter with Police and Army in dense apple
orchards near Drawni at Nagbal in Zainapora locality of Shopian
district. They were identified as Abdullah and Rayees Ahmed. Abdullah
was a Pakistani national. Two AK-56 rifles were recovered from the
possession of the slain militants.
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September 28: The security forces
neutralised a hide out in the Mendhar area of Poonch district. While
three LeT militants managed to escape under the cover of darkness,
two blankets, socks and dresses were recovered from the incident
site. "Based on tip off, a joint operation was launched by the troops
of 7 Kumaon Regiment, 39 Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operations
Group in Behri Rakh area near village Chajjla of Mendhar tehsil
at around 6.30 am", official sources said.
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September 26 and 27: In north Kashmir,
Special Operations Group (SOG) of Handwara District Police and Army
personnel killed a LeT militant identified as Abu Khubaib of Pakistan
in Hafruda forest area. Officials claimed that Abu Khubaib was LeT's
'Launching Commander' in north Kashmir who had been operating in
Ramhal and Rajwar forest areas for the last few years. One AK 47
rifle, three magazines and 38 rounds besides one blanket and a diary
were recovered from the slain militant.
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September 22: Two Pakistani 'commanders'
of the LeT were shot dead by a joint force of the Jammu and Kashmir
Police, Army and CRPF during an encounter in the Sumbal area of
Baramula district.The slain militants were identified as 'divisional
commander' Tahir Pathan alias Abu Tahir and 'district commander'
Abdullah alias Abu Maaz. Two AK-47 rifles and a satellite phone
were recovered from the encounter site.
Two militants and an Army personnel were killed
at Kalsan in the Poonch sector. Troops opened fire when two intruders,
who had taken shelter in a forest area tried to escape taking cover
of firing by Pakistan army. While both the intruders were gunned
down, in the exchange of firing, an Army jawan Naik Tape Azo was
also killed. With this killing, a total of four infiltrators and
two Army personnel have been killed during two days exchange of
firing. As reported, Pakistan army had pushed a group of 8-10 infiltrators,
all believed to be foreign mercenaries of LeT, from their Kabarstan
post opposite Kalsan forward post of Indian Army. Two AK-47 rifles,
two AK-56 rifles, 200 rounds, 16 grenades and food packets were
recovered from the encounter site but bodies of slain militants
couldn’t be recovered due to continued firing from across the LoC.
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September 21:Two top LeT militants,
including a ‘district commander’ of the outfit, Abu Sanwariya, a
suspected Pakistani national , were killed during an encounter by
a joint force of police, Army and Border Security Force at Dalwa
in Gool of Ramban district.
At least two militants and a trooper
were killed during a gun battle along the LoC in the Poonch district.
A group of at least 8 to 10 militants were spotted in forward
Indian post of Kalsan, opposite Kabarstan post of Pakistan army.
As they started heading towards Indian side, troops started taking
positions, Pakistan army opened firing on Indian positions in a
bid to give covering fire to the infiltrators, believed to be the
cadres of the LeT outfit. Simultaneously, the militants also started
heavy firing on the Army personnel.
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September 19: Police arrested three
LeT militants, Sajjad Ahmed, Rafiq Ahmed and Raj Mohd, from Upper
Chakka in Bhaderwah area of Doda district. They had recently snatched
two mobile telephones from the personnel of the Forest Protection
Force (FPF). They were reported to have given the mobile phones
to LeT ‘district commander’ Ashraf Hussain. The report added Ashraf
along with his at least two body-guards was also camping at Chakka
in Bhaderwah for last 7 days. Despite massive searches for him launched
by security forces and police, he reportedly managed to escape.
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September 17: An Over Ground Worker
of the LeT managed to escape from police custody in Manjakot area
of Rajouri district.
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September 16: A number of LeT militants,
arrested in different parts of the State during last couple of years
especially the Pakistanis and Pakistan trained local cadres, had
confessed during their questioning in the past few months that top
LeT brass, based in Pakistan, Middle East, PoK and Kashmir were
having close links with SIMI and even training their cadre in triggering
blasts.
Over 12 civilians were injured and
another abducted by the LeT militants at village Bharat in the Doda
district.
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September 15: Two Army
personnel and two SPOs were killed and one police man was wounded
by three suspected LeT militants during an encounter at Tararan
Wali dhok in the Surankot area of Poonch district. The militants,
including two foreign mercenaries, however, managed to escape. The
slain security force personnel were identified as Jaswant Singh,
Chaman Vishnu Hari, Maqsood Hussain Shah and Mohammed Mahroof. Police
subsequently recovered two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and
one magazine of AK rifle from the incident site.
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September 6: Security
forces killed a top wanted ‘divisional commander’ of the Lashkar-e-Toiba
(LeT), identified as Qari Usman, in an encounter in the Sopore area
of Baramulla district on. Two of his associates, however, managed
to escape from the incident site.
September 3: Police
arrested two locally trained militants belonging to Al-Badr and
LeT from the Wader and Mawar areas of Handwara.
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August 27: August 27: Eleven persons, including
three Army soldiers, five civilians and three militants, were killed
while six others, including three soldiers, two civilians and a
woman, were injured in Jammu as three fidayeen (suicide squad) militants,
who had infiltrated in the early hours of August 27-morning from
Kanachak sector, managed to hijack a truck at Gadla, and traveled
more than 15 kilometers before taking shelter in a house at Chinore
on the old Jammu-Akhnoor road taking nine persons hostage. The operation
which started at about 7 AM concluded after approximately 18 hours.
Two soldiers and three civilians were killed before the militants
took shelter in the house of one Billoo Ram Bhagat at Chinore at
about 6.45 am while two civilians, a Territorial Army soldier and
three militants were killed and a woman was wounded in the gun-battle
inside the house which concluded in the mid-night. 10 civilians
were held hostage by the militants soon after they intruded into
the house of Billoo Ram. Official sources confirmed that all three
militants appeared to be members of suicide squad of the Lashkar-e-Toiba
(LeT) outfit and were believed to be Pakistanis though their identity
hasn’t been established immediately. They were part of the same
group which had infiltrated into Indian Territory from Kanachak
sector on the intervening night of August 25 and 26.
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August 23: A LeT militant, identified
as Aijaz Ahmed Wagay, was killed in an encounter with the security
forces at Btnar-Lolab in the Kupwara district. An AK assault rifle,
three AK magazines, 122 rounds of AK ammunition, two hand grenades
and a mobile phone were recovered from his possession.
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August 22: Troops arrested a Lashkar-e-Toiba
militant in Doda district.
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August 19: An over ground worker
of the LeT was arrested in the Ramban district and two grenades
were recovered from his possession.
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August 14: SFs arrested two LeT militants along
with two grenades in the Poonch town. They have been identified
as Farooq Ahmed Naik and Mohammed Ishaq. Senior Superintendent of
Police (Doda) Raghubir Singh said the militants had been tasked
by LeT commanders Mudassar and Iqbal to lob grenades in Doda town.
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August 13: A top LeT militant, ‘commander’
Abdul Rashid alias Abdullah, surrendered before the security forces
in the Bhaderwah area of Doda district and handed over one Pika
gun with one ammunition box. Abdullah was reportedly an ‘A’ category
militant and was active since 2002.
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August 12: A Lashkar-e-Toiba militant,
Rasheed Ahmed, surrendered before the security forces in Doda district.
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August 11: A top Lashkar-e-Toiba ‘commander’ surrendered
before the security forces in the Bhaderwah area of Doda district.
He has been identified as Rashid Ahmed, an ‘A’ category militant
and ‘tehsil commander’ of the outfit.
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August 8: SFs arrested a LeT militant,
identified as Mehboob Ahmed alias Manga, along with two grenades
from Bhaderwah in the Doda district. Preliminary questioning of
the suspect revealed that he was tasked by LeT commanders to target
the SFs and crowded places in the Bhaderwah area. He was allegedly
earlier involved in grenade throwing in the Seri Bazaar on June
11, 2007.
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August 5: Police foiled an attempt
to target a temple in the Doda town and arrested a LeT militant,
identified as Ahmed Itoo. Senior Superintendent of Police, Raghubir
Singh, said that on the receipt of specific information that a militant
was trying to lob grenade on a temple, police were deployed in the
temple premises and subsequently as soon as the militant entered
the temple premises he was arrested. A Chinese grenade was recovered
from his possession.
Security forces arrested a LeT militant,
identified as Nazir Ahmed, who was allegedly involved in a grenade
attack at the Banihal bus stand in Doda on July 17 in which 42 persons
were injured.
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July 27: SFs killed two militants - Abdullah, 'Battalion
Commander' of the Lashkar-e-Toiba and Abu Baker of Jaish-e-Mohammed
- in an encounter at village Gujarpati Surigam in the Kupwara district.
Abdullah was reportedly involved in killing of two policemen in
the Sogam area of Kupwara district in May 2008.
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July 22: A Lashkar-e-Toiba militant of Kupwara district
was arrested by the Army as soon as he infiltrated into Indian territory
from the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district. Shamas Din is
reported to have gone across the LoC for training on August 2, 2006
and was returning without weapons when he was arrested.
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July 21: Both the Pakistani militants
of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), who had attacked the Amarnath Yatra
convoy and its paramilitary protection on July 20-evening, were
killed by the SFs on July 21. The slain militants were identified
as Syed Abid Ahmed alias Akash a resident of Sialkot in Pakistan
and Sageer Ahmed Shah, a resident of Abbotabad in Pakistan.
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July 20: An Army Major and a policeman
were killed and three SF personnel were injured in an encounter
with the militants at Jarh Wali in the Rajouri district. The SFs
had launched an operation after receiving information from three
militants arrested at the Jammu Railway Station a day earlier that
Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) ‘commander’ Azasa Shah alias Hujefa along
with his three body-guards was hiding in the house of Mohammed Sharif
at Jarh Wali. In the ensuing encounter, while Major Bhanu Partap
and policeman Anjeev Rana were killed and three soldiers wounded,
Azasa Shah and his associates managed to escape.
SFs killed two militants in an encounter
that ensued after a cordon-and-search operation at Chali Wan in
the Bandipora district. The slain militants were later identified
as ‘launching commander’ Abu Zaid alias Abu Zarr alias Abu Zubair,
a foreign militant of the LeT in Bandipora, and Gowhar Ahmad alias
Akash, a local militant of the Al Badr outfit.
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July 9: LeT militants - Mohammad
Amin Beg and his Pakistani associate Abu Qari - were killed in an
encounter with the troops at Sumriyal forest in the Kupwara district.
A LeT militant, identified as Abu
Farhat of Pakistan, was killed in an encounter with the security
forces at Shog Baba in the Bandipora area of Kupwara district. However,
two of his associates managed to escape from the incident site.
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July 8: Two LeT militants were killed
in an encounter with the SFs at Shumriyal village in the Kupwara
district. However, three others managed to escape from the incident
site.
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July 5: The SFs killed a hardcore militant
of the LeT at Panjan Gali under the jurisdiction of Doda police
station. The militant was identified as Tawheed Ahmed Bhat of Doda.
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July 3: Anantnag District
Police and Army personnel killed Abu Aatif alias Shadaakh, a Pakistani
‘divisional commander’ of the LeT, along with his Pakistani bodyguard,
Syed Moin, during an encounter at Niaina Batpora village in Pulwama-Anantnag
belt and arrested a young woman, Mubeena Akhtar, believed to be
Abu’s wife. Two AK-56 rifles, one satellite phone and three mobile
phones were recovered from the possession of the slain militants.
Sources said that on the basis of some diaries recovered from the
destroyed hideout, Pulwama Police conducted a raid on another militant
hideout near a sports stadium in Pulwama town and recovered a large
number of CDs besides INR 1, 25, 000. The report added that Abu
had planned and executed suicide attack on a CRPF formation at Ramur
in Uttar Pradesh on January 1, 2008 and an attack on Indian Institute
of Science in Bangalore on December 28, 2005.
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June 27: Two militants of the LeT outfit
and two soldiers were killed in a daylong gun battle between militants
and the Army at Khachpathri, near Kangan, in the Ganderbal area
of Srinagar. Both the militants killed were unidentified but believed
to be Pakistani cadres of the LeT. However, LeT spokesman, Abdullah
Ghaznavi, said that five Army officials, including an officer, got
killed. He claimed at 7:00 pm (IST) that none of the militants had
got killed but said that the gun battle was still underway.
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June 24: Police neutralised
a hide-out of the LeT and recovered a large quantity of explosive
devices, including five kg RDX, 12 grenades, 100 AK rounds and a
large quantity of incriminating documents from a hide-out of the
militants at Gandoh in the Doda district.
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June 21: Two LeT militants, Abu Shams
and Abu Javed, and one Central Reserve Police Force constable, K.
C. Sahu, were killed and four security force personnel wounded at
Shopribagh in the Hazratbal-Ganderbal belt of Srinagar.
Two LeT militants,
identified as Nazir Ahmed alias Abu Mohammad and Pakistani Abdullah,
were killed by the troops during an encounter at Nariwan forest
of Pir Panjal mountain range in the Shopian-Rajouri belt. Abu Mohammad
was LeT's ‘divisional commander’ for Rajouri-Poonch belt.
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June 20: Security forces
killed a Pakistani commander of the LeT, identified as Mehboob Ahmad
Afridi alias Jugnu alias Faisal, in an operation at Khoipora in
the Handwara area of Kupwara District. He was reportedly functioning
as the "district commander" of LeT in Sopore.
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June 19: Troops foiled
a major infiltration attempt on the LoC at Salhutri in the Krishna
Ghati area of Poonch district killing five suspected LeT militants
while two others managed to escape. Reports said Pakistan army was
also reported to have fired some shots on the Indian side.
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June 16: Police arrested one Lashkar-e-Toiba LeT
militant, identified as Irshad Ahmad Hajam, from Chinar Park in
Handwara of Kupwara district. The arrested militant had planned
to carry out grenade attack on Handwara Police Station. One hand
grenade was also recovered from his possession. During questioning,
Hajam revealed that he along with other LeT cadres were assigned
the task of carrying out hand grenades attacks on different targets
like Police Stations, public rallies in Handwara and Kupwara by
their 'commanders' Abu Hurrera and Abu Wakas. Acting on the information
provided by Hajam, Police also arrested three more LeT cadres along
with two grenades from each of them at Handwara market, Chogal and
Kulangam Crossing respectively. They have been identified as Shahnawaz
Shah, Tariq Ahmad Bhat and Fayaz Ahmad Lone.
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June 10: The security forces arrested a LeT militant,
Fiaz Ahmed Bhatt, from Jehand village in the Doda district. No recoveries
were made from him at the time of his arrest. Fiaz had joined the
outfit in 2007.
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June 3: SFs shot dead three top militants
of the LeT at Peer Gali in the Rajouri district. The militants were
heading towards Kashmir from the Pir Panjal mountain when they were
intercepted by the SF personnel and subsequently killed. The encounter
was continuing till last reports came in as two more militants were
holed-up in the area.
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June 2: Security forces
killed two militants of the LeT in an encounter at Dar Mohalla in
the Bandipora district.
Two more militants
of the LeT were killed in an encounter with the troops at Dangarpora
in the Baramulla district. Officials identified the slain militants
as Abu Mujahid alias Abdullah and Abu Khalid alias Haji, both Pakistanis.
Security forces killed
two LeT militants, identified as ‘district commander’ Usman Bhai
and Abu Jibran, while retaliating to an ambush by the militants
at Chottipora in the Handwara area.
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May 29: Security forces shot dead a
‘deputy divisional commander’ of the LeT outfit and his woman associate,
who was also an active militant, in an encounter at Khandipura under
the jurisdiction of Doda police station in Doda district. The slain
couple was identified as Shabir Ahmed Ittu a.k.a. Abu Rizwan and
Samreena Bano. Shabir Ahmed, according to sources, was an ‘A’ category
militant active since 1995 and had recently been designated as ‘deputy
divisional commander’ of the LeT. He was also involved in the Kulhand
massacre of May 1, 2006 in which 22 Hindus were killed in the Udhampur
district. Sources said Samreena Bano had joined the LeT a few months
back. She was arrested on January 23, 2008 and had subsequently
admitted to her involvement in militancy related activities. After
being released on bail, she had again started working with the LeT
outfit. Samreena was an over ground worker and was under police
surveillance.
The Kupwara district
police killed a Pakistani militant of the LeT at Bumhama village.
However, two of his associates managed to escape from the incident
site. Residents later revealed to Police that one of the escapees
was a Pakistani militant and another was a Kashmiri militant identified
as Veqas. One AK-47 rifle, one Chinese pistol, one mobile phone
and a satellite telephone were recovered the incident site.
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May 27: The United
States Treasury said it had decided to freeze the assets of four
leaders of the Pakistan-based LeT, including its chief Hafiz Mohammed
Saeed.
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May 25: The dead body of a LeT militant, identified
as Abdul Rashid alias Abu Maza, a resident of Nehla Charwari in
the Ramban district, was recovered by police from Masjid Sharief
Charwari. Sources said a letter written on behalf of the LeT outfit
was found near the body which said Rashid was killed on May 22 after
being hit by a stone on his head.
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May 12: The SFs killed a Pakistani militant of the
LeT, identified as Abu Maseh, in an encounter at Surankote in the
Poonch district. A Special Police Officer, Shamim Ahmed, was reportedly
injured in the operation.
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May 11: Four civilians, two soldiers and two militants
of the LeT were killed in an encounter in the Samba town of Jammu.
Among the slain civilians were chief photographer of Daily Excelsior
Ashok Sodhi, a prominent leader from Samba Hoshiar Singh and his
wife, and another woman. 16 SF personnel, including the Superintendent
of Police (Operations), Mubassir Latifi, and two women were injured
in the day long gun-battle. Official sources said that two militants
wearing Army uniform intruded into the house of Hoshiar Singh, general
secretary of Indian National Democratic Party, in Samba town at
5.58am (IST) by scaling the boundary wall. After killing Hoshiar
Singh and his wife on the spot, the militants subsequently moved
towards the Kaili Mandi area and took hostage three women and two
children. In the consequent encounter, two soldiers, Aziz Ahmed
and Atul Negi, and a woman were killed. At about 5pm, the SFs stormed
the house where the militants were hiding and shot dead both of
them. Two AK-47 rifles, one rifle grenade launcher, some eatables,
a wire cutter and a night vision device were recovered from their
possession.
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May 3: One LeT militant, identified
as Qasim Din, was arrested by the SFs in the Bonjwah area of Kishtwar
district. He was a close associate of Abu Hamza, a top LeT militant,
who was gunned down by the SFs at Bonjwah four days back. Qasim
had managed to escape in the encounter in which Abu Hamza was killed
and had since then taken shelter in Kanuao forest. One SLR with
two magazines and 26 rounds were recovered from him.
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April 30: India was
among the countries worst affected by terrorism with militant attacks
in Jammu and Kashmir and in the Northeast, attacks by Naxalites
and attacks elsewhere in the country taking a toll of more than
2,300 lives in 2007, the US State Department said. The State Department,
in its annual report on terrorism, said terrorist activities along
the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir are on the decline but
Pakistan-based militant outfits like the LeT and other terrorist
groups continue to plan attacks in the Valley. "Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba
and other Kashmir-focused groups continued regional attack planning.
In 2007, Kashmir-focused groups continued to support attacks in
Afghanistan, and operatives trained by the groups continued to feature
in Al-Qaeda transnational attack planning," it said.
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April 29: A top Pakistani
militant of the LeT, Mohammed Maqbool alias Abu Hamza, and a police
constable, Kikkar Singh, were killed in an encounter at village
Muslai in the Kishtwar district. Abu Hamza was active in the Kishtwar
and Doda districts for the last four to five years and had been
rated as ‘A’ category militant.
The Baramulla Police
arrested four persons, including a branch manager of the Jammu and
Kashmir Bank Ltd, for illegal exchange of foreign currency and its
subsequent supply to militants of the LeT.
The LeT spokesman,
Abdullah Ghaznavi, informed Daily Excelsior over telephone
that all of his organisation's holed up militants had managed to
escape in the 36-hour-long gun-battle in the Rajwar forest area
of Handwara-Zachaldara belt. He claimed that as many as 10 troopers,
including a Commanding Officer and a Major, were killed in the two-day
long encounter. Officials while confirming the encounter, however,
stated that no militant, civilian or police personnel were killed
or injured in the two-day-long gun-battle.
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April 28: SFs in Kishtwar arrested a LeT militant,
Mohammad Ibrahim alias Abu Mussa, from the Pathro area. From his
possession, police recovered one AK-47 rifle, three magazines and
90 rounds of ammunition.
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April 24: The Superintendent of
Police (Handwara), Dr Haseeb Mughal, said that about 30 militants
of the LeT and JeM were still active in Handwara-Kandi belt of Kupwara
district.
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April 22: The Union Minister of
State for Home Affairs, Sriprakash Jaiswal, replying to questions
in the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) said that the
banned SIMI has links with terrorist groups, including the LeT.
He said that the links have been revealed in investigations into
a number of cases.
The involvement of Pakistan-based
outfits has been observed in most of the terrorist attacks in India
as groups from across the border continue to sponsor terrorist and
subversive activities in the country, the Union Home Ministry said
in its Annual Report for 2007-08. "The hand of Pakistan-based terrorist
organisations - LeT and JeM - and, increasingly of the Bangladesh-based
HuJI, known to have close links with ISI, has been observed in most
of these cases," the 167-page report said. The incidents showed
these groups have been using sleeper cells in the country to carry
out such activities, and have also been using the territory of other
neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh and Nepal, it said.
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April 20: Awantipora police arrested
three OGWs, identified as Abdul Rashid Sheikh, Assadullah Gani and
Ashiq Hussain Bhat, from the Padgampora area. Four hand grenades
were recovered from them, an official spokesman said and disclosed
that all the three OGWs were assigned the task by LeT’s Pakistani
militants to carry out grenade attacks on the convoys of the SFs
on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.
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April 19: The SFs in
a day long gun battle killed four heavily armed militants in the
Rang forest area, about 6-km ahead of Warnow in the Kupwara district.
Three of the slain militants, residents of Pakistan occupied Kashmir,
were identified as Amjad Bhai, Abu Saifullah and Irshad Ahmed. While
Amjad Bhai was a top wanted ‘district commander’ of the JeM who
had been operating in the Lolab area for the last six years, Abu
Saifullah and Arshad were both cadres of the LeT. SSP, Kupwara,
Vijay Kumar, confirmed the death of four militants said that four
AK rifles and a number of grenades were among the arms and ammunition
seized at the site of the encounter.
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April 18: SFs arrested
two militants of the LeT outfit from Seri Bazaar in the Bhadarwah
town of Doda district and recovered some arms, ammunition and incriminating
documents from their possession. They were identified as Ikhlaq
Ahmed (code name Muzamil Bhat) and Abdul Samad Hajam. From their
possession, SFs recovered one Chinese pistol with one magazine and
five rounds, two mobile telephones, INR 2050, one purse with LeT
sticker, one head band of LeT and a large quantity of incriminating
material.
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April 15: A soldier,
identified as Dalip Singh, was killed during an encounter between
the SFs and a group of LeT militants at village Khari in the Ramban.
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April 14: SFs killed a ‘district commander’
of the LeT in an encounter in the Harwan area of Srinagar. He was
identified as Zakaria, a Pakistani militant. LeT spokesman Abdullah
Gazali confirmed the death of Zakaria but said that he would be
issuing a statement after getting all details.
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April 12: The SFs in
an encounter killed a ‘district commander’ of the LeT, identified
as Shabir Ahmad Bhat alias Mansoor, at Peer Mohalla in the Chakura
village of Pulwama district. According to police, Mansoor was a
listed "A" category militant of the outfit and had crossed over
to Pakistan in 2001 and returned to Valley in October 2006.
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April 11: JeM and LeT,
the Pakistan-based terrorist groups, are among the 44 outfits designated
as ‘Foreign Terrorist Organisations’ (FTO) by the US. Besides these
two, other groups active in India — the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami
and Pakistan-based HuM — are also in the FTO list issued by the
office of the coordinator for counter terrorism of the US Department
of State.
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April 7: All the religious
outfits which were banned by General Pervez Musharraf during his
military rule would approach the Supreme Court of Pakistan and seek
restoration, chief of the proscribed LeT group. "The ban was a step
that the retired General took only to please America and now it
is abundantly clear that people have rejected his policies," Hafiz
Saeed, LeT (now known as Jama’at-ud-Da’awa) chief told The News.
He criticised President Musharraf's Kashmir policy and alleged that
the 'U-turn' taken by the Musharraf Government on Kashmir had badly
damaged the cause of the Kashmiris' ‘freedom struggle’.
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March 23: Three police personnel and a CRPF constable
died in an encounter with militants on the outskirts of capital
Srinagar in which they succeeded in killing Abu Faisal of Pakistan,
a 'divisional commander' of the LeT. The gunfight ensued after the
security forces surrounded a house in the Telbal locality, where
some militants were hiding. According to the Police press release,
Abu Faisal was responsible for a number of subversive acts and armed
attacks in the Kangan-Ganderbal belt.
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March 21: Two children, Mohammad Afzal and Akram
Ashraf, were killed in a grenade explosion in the Gawari area of
Doda district. Police said that some unidentified militants lobbed
a grenade near a house at Gawari village leading to the death of
two boys who were playing near their house. Police sources added
that the militants lobbed the grenade to avenge the killing of four
LeT militants in the same area.
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March 19: The Doda district police and Army shot
dead four militants of the LeT outfit, including a 'district commander',
in an encounter at Gwari Shah under the jurisdiction of Gandoh police
station. Two police personnel sustained injuries in the operation.
The slain militants were identified as 'district commander' Imtiaz
Hussain alias Abu Turab, Sadam Hussain, Suraf Nawaz alias Mehnaz
and Sagir Ahmed of Pakistan.
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March 16: SFs killed Hafiz Naasir, one of the most
wanted militants and the Kashmir valley chief of the LeT, in an
encounter at village Chatlura near Sopore town in the Baramulla
district. Lt. Col. M. S. Kadam, the officiating Commanding Officer
of Rashtriya Rifles (22 Battalion), and another soldier, identified
as Pradeep Kumar, are reported to have died and four SF personnel
injured in the encounter. Hafiz Naasir, a Pakistani militant, had
been appointed sometime in 2007 as LeT operational chief in Kashmir
after working in the Valley for about ten years. Deputy Inspector
General of Police (north Kashmir), Dr. B Srinivas, described Naasir
as the most wanted militant in the Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara
districts.
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March 15: A LeT militant was arrested along with
electronic gadgets, including a laptop, the police said. The police
raided the house of Shabir Ahmed alias Pappu in the Sabra village
on March 14-night and recovered a laptop and pen drive from his
possession, they said. The laptop recovered from Pappu originally
belonged to slain LeT 'divisional commander' Abu Umar, the police
said, adding Umar was involved in the killing of Deputy Superintendent
of Police Shelly Singh.
-
March 14: Police in the Chakwal city of Punjab province
in Pakistan arrested four persons on charges of their alleged links
with the banned LeT.
-
March 12: A militant of the LeT was killed by the
security forces in a gun-battle at Rampore in the Sopore area of
Baramulla district. While Defence sources confirmed the death of
one militant, Police officials insisted that three militants of
the group were "believed to be dead." The Deputy Inspector General
of Police (North Kashmir) said that no dead body had been recovered
till late night. Unnamed officials said that Lashkar-e-Toiba's radio
intercepts since the evening were also mentioning death of three
militants.
-
March 10: Police claimed to have foiled a plan to
carry out Fidayeen (suicide squad) attack at Srinagar by
the LeT. Following an intelligence outfit that the LeT cadres were
planning to carry out a suicide attack in the city, security forces
carried out a raid on a house in the Harwan area and recovered police
uniforms, pouches, three sewing machines, six hand grenades, seven
AK magazines, 200 rounds of ammunition, one 2 inch mortar, one Thuraya
phone and some coded documents.
-
March 7: Police unearthed a Hawala
racket supplying money to the LeT operatives in the Kandi and
Buddal areas of Rajouri district. The Police conducted series of
raids in the Kandi area and arrested Zulfikar, brother of a slain
HM militant Abdul Qayoom, who died in July 2007, and Muhammad Qadir
of Larkuti, while they were purchasing shoes and other food items
for militants operating in the area. "The police team also
recovered Rs 1.5 lakh of hawala money from the possession
of the arrested persons. The money was to be handed over to LeT
commander Saqib (operating in Kandi and Buddal areas)", sources
said.
-
March 5: SFs killed a holed up militant
in the overnight operation at Chitti Bandi in the Bandipora district.
One militant had died in the initial round of firing and another
was trapped inside a residential house. Sources said that troops
destroyed the target hideout, killing the holed up militant. Official
sources said that one of the two slain militants was identified
as Abu Abdullah alias Mohammad Saleem, a Pakistani national. They
stated that both the militants belonged to the LeT. A defence spokesman
stated that both the militants were killed at a time when they were
planning a strike on the former counter-insurgent and current legislator
from Bandipora, Usman Majeed.
-
March 2: SFs arrested two Over-Ground
Workers of the LeT, identified as Sajjad Ahmed Bhat and Riyaz Ahmed
Shah, in the Chakora area of Pulwama district.
Police arrested a militant and his
five associates including two women, from the outskirts of Doda
town when they were smuggling a consignment of arms and ammunition
from Kulgam to Doda district. The arms were being smuggled for a
‘divisional commander’ of the LeT outfit.
-
February 15: A top Pakistani militant of the LeT
outfit involved in the November 23, 2007 bomb blasts in various
courts across Uttar Pradesh was killed along with his associate
in an encounter with police in the Pulwama district. Self-styled
district commander Abdul Rahman alias Rehman Bhai, a Pakistani,
and a local militant Moin Ahmed Mir were killed at Niloora-Aglar
village. Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda told reporters
that the slain LeT commander was involved in the November 23 blasts
in Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow courts in which 13 civilians were
killed. "As per the UP police investigation, the LeT group that
was responsible for sending arms and ammunition for attack at Rampur
is the same group to which Rehman belongs", he said, adding "Rehman
was part of the group headed by Abu Aatif which had supplied the
arms to the Rampur attackers." The investigations also revealed
that Rehman was closely associated with LeT militants not only in
the Kashmir Valley but outside the State, he said.
-
February 12: SF personnel shot dead three LeT militants
in an encounter at village Sarhuti under the jurisdiction of Mendhar
police station in the Poonch district. A fourth militant, however,
is reported to have escaped from the incident site. With this, nine
militants, including six infiltrators, have been killed in the past
one week in Mendhar sector.
-
February 7: A top militant of the LeT, identified
as Showkat Ali alias Abu Haroon (set code Victor 6), surrendered
before the Special Operations Group (SOG) Jammu.
-
February 5: SFs shot dead two suspected LeT militants
in an encounter at Bindi Gala, about three kilometers inside the
Line of Control in the Sunderbani sector of Rajouri district.
-
February 2: Three top LeT militants, belonging to
Pakistan, and two police personnel, including a constable and a
Special Police Officer, were killed while soldier was injured as
security forces foiled an infiltration attempt on Line of Control
in the Ghani forests of Mendhar sector in Poonch district. The operation
was still on till the reports last came in.
-
January 27: The Karnataka Police
is reported to have recently arrested a cook and a medical student
for alleged terrorist links. The duo revealed that they had plans
of bombing the Hubli airport. During the interrogation of Mohammad
Ghouse and his associate Assadullah Abbubukar, the police learnt
that Ghouse's father Mohammad Naseeruddin is a LeT operative and
has received training in Pakistan. Intelligence Bureau sources said
that Naseerruddin is a trained suicide bomber, who was trained at
Muzafarabad in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Assadullah reportedly
met Ghouse at a religious meeting in Hubli in 2007, and was influenced
by the latter to take up the jihadi cause. The police have also
recovered CDs and maps of various installations from the duo.
-
January 24: A female militant of
the LeT outfit, active for the last three years, was arrested by
the Doda police. She was stated to be very close to LeT ‘divisional
commander’, Shabir Ittoo, and actively worked for the outfit in
Doda and its adjoining localities. Senior Superintendent of Police,
Manohar Singh, while confirming the arrest said 23-year-old Samrina
Bano, daughter of Ghulam Nabi Shah of Doda, was undergoing nurse
training at the Health Department in Doda. She was very close to
the LeT divisional commander and was instrumental in shifting cash
consignments and arms and ammunitions for the militants. Intelligence
agencies had reportedly intercepted messages of the LeT divisional
commander who was in constant touch with Samrina Bano. This is the
third such incident during the past six months when a female militant
was arrested in the Jammu region. On September 7, 2007, the Jammu
police had arrested a law student, Nahida Altaf, who was close to
Saifullah Karri of the JeM. Karri was killed in a joint operation
of the Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir police. In similar case, Kishtwar
police arrested two sisters from the Sangram Bhatta area. One of
the girls was arrested with a HM and INR 200000 was also recovered
from their possession.
A HM militant was arrested by the
SOG of Jammu Police from a rented house at Dogra Hall in Jammu city.
He was working as a Supervisor with a Chandigarh-based English newspaper
to hide his credentials. The militant was identified as Riyaz Ahmed
Shah alias Raja, a resident of Shangran in the Anantnag district.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Raja, a ‘B’ category militant,
was involved in the killing of a civilian Jabbar Khanday in 2005
under the jurisdiction of Dooru police station.
-
January 23: Bharat Bhushan, a Village
Defence Committee member, was abducted and subsequently killed by
militants of the LeT in the Doda district. The killing has been
described as revengeful action as the deceased had fought valiantly
with militants in the same area resulting in the killing of two
LeT cadres three days back.
-
January 21: All the three holed
up militants of the LeT were killed by the SFs at the residence
of two activists of the ruling People’ Democratic Party (PDP) at
Mandigam village in the Handwara area of Kupwara district in a 30-hour-long
gun-battle. Sources said that the encounter came to an end at 1130
hours. All three militants were killed when SFs destroyed their
hideout at the twin houses of PDP activists, Ashiq Hussain Parray
and Mushtaq Ahmed Mir. Officials said that Major Parmar and another
soldier were wounded in the encounter. LeT spokesman Abdullah Ghaznavi
identified the slain militants as Abdullah Gauri, Abu Issa and Abu
Faidullah. He also claimed that nine soldiers, including a Major,
were killed in the gun-battle.
SFs killed two more militants of
the Lashkar-e-Toiba in a gun-battle at Alyalpora village in Shopian
district. They were identified as ‘battalion commander’ Tahir-ul-Islam
and Mohammad Hanief Dar.
-
January 20: One of the LeT militants,
holed up in a house at Mandigam village in Handwara was killed by
the SFs.
-
January 15: Security forces killed
Abu Kital alias Abu Hamza, ‘district commander’ of the LeT, in an
encounter in the Bandipora district.
-
January 13: Personnel of the Jammu
and Kashmir Police and Rashtriya Rifles killed two militants of
the LeT outfit in separate encounters in the Doda district. According
to Manahor Singh, Senior Superintended of Police, two unidentified
LeT militants were killed in Shonsh and Banshal areas, under the
Doda police station.
-
January 12: Troops cordoned the
house of one Mangta Bhat at village Bikhrain under the jurisdiction
of Doda police station and shot dead two top LeT militants who had
taken shelter in the house. The slain cadres were identified as
Altaf Hussain and Irshad Ahmed.
A militant of the LeT outfit, identified
as Farooq Ahmed Bhat, was killed by troops in the Bhagwah area of
Doda district. Bhat was a ‘B’ grade militant of the LeT outfit and
was active in Doda district since 2003.
-
January 10: A suspected LeT cadre,
Abbas Khan alias Akhdas Khan alias Mohsin Alam, was arrested for
his alleged involvement in a fake currency racket in Kolkata, by
the detective department from a house at Chamru Singh Lane in East
Kolkata’s Narkeldanga area. He had earlier been convicted by a Gujarat
court for the Godhra violence but was released on bail. He had jumped
parole and remained untraceable. An unspecified amount of fake currency
notes of INR 500 and INR 1,000 denomination were recovered from
him. Khan was subsequently remanded in police custody till January
15.
-
January 5: A top LeT commander Abu
Muslim was found dead at Seeldhar in the Gool area of Ramban district.
While local people claimed that the militant had died due to illness,
official sources said an exact reason is yet to be ascertained.
Security forces (SFs) arrested an
OGW of LeT from Baramulla district. He was identified as Javed Ahmed
Lone. One pistol, a pistol magazine, 38 rounds of pistol ammunition,
two electric detonators and one remote control IED circuit with
battery, were recovered from his possession.
SFs rescued two youths from captivity
of LeT after raiding a hideout of the outfit at village Lonepura
in the Doda district. Two OGWs of the outfit were also arrested
following the raid.
-
January 2: SFs arrested an over-ground
worker of the LeT, identified as Abdul Hamid Ganai, from Sumbal.
2007
-
December 23: The
STF personnel of the Uttar Pradesh Police shot dead two suspected
LeT militants in an encounter on Dewa Road, 18 kilometers from State
capital Lucknow. The duo was traveling in a car and was intercepted
near the Central Food Technological Research Centre on Dewa Road.
Brij Lal, the Additional Director-General of Police (Law and Order
and STF), said that both the unidentified terrorists were part of
a Fidayeen (suicide squad) team and had entered the State
from Nepal. He further said that the slain terrorists had planned
a big terrorist attack in Lucknow. A map with notings in Urdu was
recovered from them.
Security forces killed two Pakistani
cadres of the LeT, identified as Abu Anas and Mohsin in an encounter
at Papchhan village in the Bandipora district.
A Pakistani militant of the LeT
outfit was killed in an encounter with troops of Rashtriya Rifles
and police at village Harah under the jurisdiction of Gool police
station in Ramban district. He has been identified as Abu Umar,
a Pakistani, operating in Gool for the last one and a half year.
-
December 13: The Jammu and Kashmir Police have arrested
two over-ground workers of the LeT group, identified as Rahim Malik
a.k.a. Osama, and Mushtaq Dar a.k.a. Chandi, from Sopore in the
Baramulla district. A police spokesman said that two hand grenades
were recovered from their possession.
-
December 7: Security forces killed
a militant in an ambush at Dalwath in the Safapora area of Bandipora
district. Three of his associates, however, managed to escape from
the incident site. The slain militant is believed to be a Pakistani
cadre of the LeT.
-
December 6: Police arrested a LeT
militant during a search operation at village Bansan in the Reasi
district. Senior Superintendent of Police, J. L. Sharma, identified
the arrested militant as Liaquat Ali. On his disclosures, police
personnel recovered two UBGL grenades. Ali had joined the LeT outfit
only seven months back and was since then operating in the Gool
area, according to Daily Excelsior.
-
Pakistani militants of the LeT and
JeM have joined hands with the HuJI of Bangladesh to destabilise
India’s sovereignty taking the strategic advantage of the eastern
border, the Director General of BSF, A. K. Mitra, said. Talking
to the media in Agartala, Mitra pointed out that the western frontier
of India was relatively tough for Pakistani militants but the eastern
border with Bangladesh had become more useful for them and foreign
militants were utilising South Bengal border for anti-Indian activities.
He disclosed that 14 militants of the LeT and JeM were arrested
in South Bengal border, trying to sneak into India from Bangladesh
in the past six months. Speaking on the recent terrorist attacks
in India, including the recent serial bomb blasts in Uttar Pradesh,
Mitra said circumstantial evidence point to a kind of a joint mission
by the HUJI, along with LeT and JeM.
-
December 5: Two soldiers, Chuni
Lal and Muzaffar Ahmed, and an equal number of militants affiliated
to the LeT group died in an overnight gun-battle at Ladhermud in
the Awantipora area of Pulwama district.
-
December 3: The Supreme Court stayed
the death sentence of a LeT militant in the Red Fort attack case
in which three Army personnel were killed on December 22, 2000.
A bench comprising Justices G. P. Mathur and P. Sadasivam also issued
notices on the petition of Mohammad Arif alias Ashfaq, a Pakistani
national and LeT militant to the Delhi Government. The Delhi High
Court had confirmed the death sentence of the petitioner on September
14, 2007. A trial court had sentenced the petitioner to death in
2005 and Nazir Ahmed Quasid and his son Farooq Ahmed Quasid to life
imprisonment. The High Court had, however, acquitted six others
in the case. The petitioner had challenged his conviction and sentence
in the case on the grounds that there was no evidence against him
showing his involvement in the conspiracy and both the Trial Court
and High Court had committed a grave error of law.
-
December 2: Police in Kupwara district
arrested Waqar Ahmed and Feroz Ahmed War, both members of the LeT,
along with some arms and ammunition, a radio set and two mobile
phones.
-
November 29: Police killed Salman
alias Hassan, a 'district commander' of the LeT, in a brief encounter
in the Shalimar Bagh area of capital Srinagar. Inspector General
of Police (Kashmir), S. M. Sahai, said that one Sub Inspector of
the Special Operations Group of Srinagar District Police, Arshid,
sustained minor injuries in the incident. A Police headquarters
press release added that Salman had carried out a number of attacks
on security forces and tourists and he was also involved in a suicide
attack.
-
November 28: The SOG of police
and troops shot dead a LeT militant, identified as Imtiyaz Ahmed,
in an encounter at village Kither in the Gandoh area of Doda district.
-
November 28: One Over Ground Worker
of the LeT outfit, Javid Ahmad Mallah, was arrested by police in
the Handwara area of Kupwara district.
-
November 26: A LeT militant, Mohammed
Rafiq Sheikh alias Abu Haider, was shot dead while his associate,
who had come to meet his wife in the house of her relatives at Rang
Bagla Neeram in the Mahore area of Reasi district, escaped after
an encounter with the SF personnel.
-
November 25: SFs recovered four
Improvised Explosive Devices and nine kilograms of explosives from
a natural cave in the Mangal forest area of Rajouri district. The
consignment reportedly belonged to the LeT outfit, sources said.
-
November 21: Pakistan army has developed
a new type of "floating air pillow" to infiltrate militants from
newly developed infiltration routes through rivers along the Line
of Control and International Border in Jammu sector. The "air pillows"
were reported to have been successfully used by a group of five
militants to infiltrate into Indian territory from Munawar Tawi
along Sunderbani-Khour sector on the Rajouri-Jammu border, official
sources said. The information on infiltration by the militants using
specially designed floating air pillows has been revealed by Mohammed
Sharif alias Sharka, a top LeT militant, who was operating in Rajouri
district for the last seven years and was directly in touch with
top LeT commanders and Pakistan army officers through his sophisticated
wireless sets and phones. Sharka, who had surrendered before Rajouri
Police a few days back, has disclosed that a group of five LeT militants
had successfully used floating air pillows to cross Munawar Tawi
from Sunderbani sector in Rajouri district and reached the Indian
side of LoC in the first week of October 2007. From Sunderbani,
the militants were taken to Gool-Gulabgarh via Pir Panjal range
by a guide of the LeT outfit, sources added.
-
November 16: In Sopore, unidentified
militants opened fire on a former decoy of the LeT at Mohalla Momkak
locality. He sustained gunshot wounds.
-
November 15: SF personnel killed
two Pakistani cadres of the LeT during an encounter in the Machhil
area near Sonapindi on the Line of Control.
-
November 14: Two Pakistani militants
of the LeT were shot dead by troops of the Rashtriya Rifles and
police in an encounter at village Seri Chowanan in the Mandi area
of Poonch district. The slain militants were identified as Abu Qasim
and Abu Hyder with the help of two identity cards recovered from
their possession. Both of them have reportedly operating in Poonch
district for the last eight months.
-
November 12: Four Pakistani militants
- two each of the HuM and LeT, were killed in an encounter with
the security forces at Dooru in the Sopore area of Baramulla district.
Three of the slain militants were identified as HuM "Deputy Chief"
for Jammu and Kashmir, Qari Umar, and ‘commander’ Bilal Afghani
and LeT cadre Abu Faris alias Daanish alias Shamsheer. One soldier
was killed and four others were wounded in the encounter.
-
November 11: Two ‘Fidayeen’ cadres
of the LeT, holed up in a hotel at Sopore town in the Baramulla
district for the past three days, were killed by SFs. A CRPF personnel
too was killed during the encounter. Six other SF personnel were
also injured in the encounter. The militants were identified as
Abu Osama Zeeshan alias Qasim of Leh district in the NWFP of Pakistan
and Abu Talha alias Janbaz Mumtaz Ullah of Meanwali district in
Pakistan.
-
November 9: Five militants and four
SF personnel, including a Major, were killed in an encounter which
lasted four days at Sadpora Mohalla in the Pattan town of Baramulla
district. Commander of the 10 Sector Rashtriya Rifles, Brigadier
K. A. Muthana, informed that all the five militants killed were
foreign nationals affiliated to the Pakistan-based LeT. Major V.
S. Sandu and three soldiers were killed in the encounter which began
on November 6-evening.
-
November 8: Two LeT militants opened
fire on a bunker of the CRPF personnel who retaliated at Main Chowk
in Sopore town of Baramulla district. Subsequent to the retaliatory
firing, militants ran into a hotel Newlight and took positions on
its top floor. Police and paramilitary personnel managed to evacuate
a large number of holed up civilians and later engaged the militants
in a gun battle.
-
November 7: Three soldiers and two
LeT militants were killed during an encounter in Sad Mohalla in
the highway township of Pattan in Baramulla district of north Kashmir.
The encounter had begun on November 6 evening following reports
of LeT militants hiding in two houses of the area. At least five
soldiers, including a JCO, sustained injuries in the continuing
encounter. Three more LeT militants are suspected to have escaped
from the cordoned locality.
-
Two LeT militants, Mohd Sharif alias
Sharka and Mohd Mushtaq, surrendered before police in Rajouri. According
to official sources, they disclosed that the militants especially
foreign mercenaries of LeT and JeM were strengthening their positions
in Pir Panjal ranges and have even started operating training camps
for local militants there.
-
November 4: Two LeT militants present
in a hideout at Thathri in the Sonarthawa area of Doda district
were killed following a four-hour long encounter. Both were identified
as Showkat Ali Khan (code name Abu Zubair) of Gojru Thathri and
Abdul Latif (code name Abu Zubair) of Loharthawa.
-
October 28: At Chalpura village
in Kupwara district, troops arrested an over ground worker of the
LeT, Javed Ahmed Khan.
-
October 20: The Personal Security
Officer of the Superintendent of Police in Sopore and a Pakistani
militant of the LeT were killed during an encounter at Malpora,
close to Malmapanpora, on Sopore-Bandipore road in the Baramulla
district. One civilian and a policeman were injured in the incident
while the SP escaped unhurt. Meanwhile, spokesman of the LeT, Abdullah
Ghaznavi, said that one militant of his organisation died after
killing five SOG personnel, including an Inspector. He identified
the militant killed as Abu Abdullah Jaish and claimed that yet another
encounter started between the militants of his organisation and
security forces in the same area at 1630 hours. He said that the
encounter was underway and details were not available immediately.
Officials, however, maintained that only one constable got killed
and one more sustained injuries before the militant was gunned down
and said that no other encounter took place in Sopore or any other
place in Kashmir valley on October 20.
-
October 16: SFs killed three militants
of the LeT outfit in the in the Lancha area of Ramban district.
While two of the slain militants were identified as Rafeeq and Liyaqat,
the identity of the third was not known.
-
October 14: SFs arrested three hardcore
militants of the LeT after an encounter at Pattimal in the Kishtwar
district and recovered a cache of arms, ammunition and explosives
from their possession. They were identified as Nissar Ahmed alias
Abu Maaz, Ghulam Mohammed Shah alias Abu Qasim and Farooq Ahmed.
Three AK-47 rifles, four magazines, 120 rounds, one Chinese grenade,
two mobile telephones, five letter heads of the LeT outfit and some
incriminating documents were recovered from their possession. Deputy
Inspector General of Police (Doda range) Farooq Khan said that the
arrests were made after SFs had launched a search operation in Pattimal
after securing specific input about the movement of three LeT militants,
who had been operating in the Dachan, Pattimal and Palmar areas
for the last three years.
-
October 11-12: Two suicide bombers
were killed and three paramilitary personnel wounded in a suicide
attack on a CRPF camp near the Dal Lake in capital Srinagar. The
two heavily armed suicide militants entered into the makeshift battalion
headquarters of the CRPF on October 11. Police and CRPF personnel
on October 12 killed the two suicide bombers. The spokesman of the
LeT, Abdullah Ghaznavi, in a satellite telephonic conversation from
Pakistan claimed that fidayeen (suicide squad) of his group
had stormed the camp.
-
October 10: A ‘battalion commander’
of the LeT outfit, identified as Sabzar Ahmed Mir a.k.a. Muntazim,
was killed in an encounter at Chak Cholan in the Pulwama district.
-
October 8: The police and Rashtriya
Rifles personnel shot dead a militant of the LeT, identified as
Abu Usman (junior), at Gangabug forest in Kupwara district.
-
October 5-6: Security forces killed
Abu Furqan, LeT ‘district commander’ for Anantnag, during an encounter
at Chitragam village in the Shopian district on October 5. The gun
battle ended with the death of one soldier on October 6.
-
October 5: Jammu and Kashmir Police
sources stated that Mohammed. Sadik alias Sibly, a person belonging
to Thoubal district, is a cadre of the LeT outfit. He was arrested
by Jammu and Kashmir Police along with an AK rifle on August 30,
2007. He had reportedly gone from Manipur to Jammu and Kashmir to
pursue Islamic studies and become a Moulvi (Islamic cleric). Later
he joined the LeT outfit.
-
October 4:
In an encounter between militants of the LeT
and SFs at Gamroo in the Bandipora district, two militants, identified
as ‘divisional commander’ Moosa alias Abu Wafa and ‘chief operational
commander’ Qasim Bhatti, and a Junior Commissioned Officer of the
Army, Subash, were killed. Moosa had engineered most of the attacks
on Police and civilian targets in capital Srinagar in the last one
year. He had also been instrumental in a number of grenade attacks
and IED blasts in the Bandipora, Ganderbal and Srinagar districts.
-
October 2: Nine LeT militants, including
the outfit’s ‘divisional commander’ of the Tangmarg-Beerwah belt,
Bilal Afghani alias Chhota Bilal, and two of his close associates,
Mohammad Sultan Bhat alias Rayees Khan and Janbaz Afghani, were
killed during an encounter between militants and SFs in the Tangmarg-Beerwah
belt of Baramulla district. One officer of the Rashtriya Rifles
(34 Battalion), Major K. P. Vinay was killed on the spot, while
another one, identified as Major Dinesh Raghuraman, who was among
five other soldiers injured, died of his injuries later. "They offered
tough resistance for all 38 hours of the gun battle. They are all
unidentified but we believe, they are all Pakistani cadres of Lashkar-e-Toiba
[LeT]," informed Commander of Sector 12 of Rashtriya Rifles, Brigadier,
Kuldip Singh. LeT spokesman, Abdullah Ghaznavi, confirmed in a satellite
telephonic conversation from Pakistan that nine militants of his
outfit were killed in the 38-hour-long gun-battle in Tangmarg. He
claimed that the militants killed 12 soldiers, including two Majors,
and wounded 15 others.
-
October 1: Doda police arrested
three fresh recruits of the LeT outfit from Doda. These youths had
been lured into militancy by a local LeT activist, Bashir Ahmed
Ganaie. Police also arrested four motivators of militants from Doda.
They were motivating youths to join LeT and HM outfits. Police also
rescued eight youths from captivity of the militants.
-
September 28: Unconfirmed reports
indicated that three SF personnel were wounded in an improvised
explosive device blast triggered by the militants at Devbagh in
the Budgam district. LeT spokesman Abdullah Ghaznavi claimed that
seven soldiers were killed.
-
September 27: SF personnel rescued
six teenagers from the custody of militants in the Patnazi area
of Doda district. They had been kidnapped on September 17 by LeT
militants for taking them across the Line of Control for arms training.
Security forces arrested two militants
of the LeT as soon as they infiltrated into Indian territory from
village Damoi Kas in the Poonch district along with a large quantity
of arms and ammunition.
-
September 26: Troops killed two
LeT militants, identified as Abdul Rasheed and Liaquat Ali alias
Furqan, at Gool in the Ramban district.
-
September 25: At least two LeT militants
and a soldier, Varinder Kumar Sharma, were killed during an encounter
that ensued after security forces launched a search operation at
Khewri in the Rajouri district.
Abu Kasha alias Tango 9, a LeT ‘area
commander’ for Rajouri district, was shot dead by the SFs at Sanyara
Mohalla in the Surankote area of Poonch district.
Two more LeT cadres, identified
as Gazi Ahmed Mir and Abdur Rehman Sani alias Hanzla of Pakistan,
were killed by the troops at Shopian in the Pulwama district.
-
September 24:
A top militant of the LeT, identified as Abu
Israr, and a Special Police Officer, Shah Hussain, were killed in
an encounter at Sanyara Mohalla in the Surankote area of Poonch
district.
-
September 23: One suspected Pakistani
cadre of the LeT outfit was killed by SF personnel at Shiva village
in the Sopore area of Baramula district.
-
September 20:
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, chief of the LeT, called
for intensification of "jehad in Kashmir and Afghanistan" to "strengthen
Pakistan's Defence."
-
September 19: Three SF personnel,
including one identified as Shri Kumar, were killed and 20 others
injured when terrorists ambushed a security convoy along Srinagar-Leh
road at Gunwani-Gund in Sonamarg of Srinagar district. Three army
buses were also damaged in the attack. Terrorists reportedly attacked
with grenades and later opened fire with automatic weapons. Meanwhile,
the LeT outfit claimed responsibility for the attack.
-
September 18: Two LeT militants,
including ‘section commander’ Shamsher Khan alias Rezwan, a Pakistani
national, and his accomplice, Aijaz alias Bhai alias Shamsher, were
killed while five SF personnel, including a Major, sustained injuries
in a day-long gun battle at village Chinot in the Bhadarwah tehsil
(administrative division) of Doda district.
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September 17: One Pakistani cadre
of the LeT, identified as Abu Azad alias Gafari, was shot dead by
SF personnel at village Gundha under Budhal police station in the
Rajouri district. One of his associates managed to escape from the
incident site.
One LeT cadre, Nisar Ahmed Dar alias
Saajid, was arrested from an unspecified place under Sopore police
station in the Baramulla district. Following his interrogation,
three over ground workers, identified as Abdul Hameed Shah alias
Hassan, Mushtaq Ahmed Changa alias Shahid and Muzaffar Ahmed Saboon
alias Zubair, were arrested.
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September 16: Suspected LeT militants
opened fire on a security convoy at Spurnag in the Handwara area
of Kupwara district. The convoy of the Rashtriya Rifles was on its
way to a forward area from Baramulla. No fatalities were reported.
In the Sopore area of Baramulla
district, security forces and the LeT militants exchanged fire in
the Model Town area. Superintendent of Police, Imtiyaz Hussain said
that the raid was conducted following information on two LeT militants,
Saifullah and Abu Zarrar, who had laid an ambush and were likely
to attack a military convoy. In the exchange of fire, Abu Zarrar
sustained injuries but both the militants managed to escape leaving
behind a mobile phone. Official sources said there were no fatalities
on the security force side.
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September 14:
A Pakistani cadre of the LeT, Abu Mursad, was
killed by SFs at Tujjar Sharif village near Sopore in the Baramulla
district. Another terrorist, who sustained injuries, managed to
escape from the incident site.
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September 13: Four LeT terrorists,
including one ‘district commander’ Lal Din Gujjar, were shot dead
by SF personnel during an encounter at Trinnar Nala area of Kishtwar
district. Three others were identified as Umar Din, Kasih and Ghulam
Qadir.
Confirming the death penalty awarded
to Pakistani LeT militant Mohammed Ashfaq in the seven-year-old
Red Fort attack case, the Delhi High Court said that terrorists,
who have no value for human lives, deserved the capital punishment.
The court, however, acquitted six other persons, including the Srinagar-based
father-and-son duo Nazir Ahmed Qasid and Farooq Ahmed Qasid, who
were sentenced to life imprisonment, and Ashfaq’s Indian wife Rehamana
Yosuf Farooqui. She was given a seven-year jail term. Ashfaq and
five other LeT militants, on the night of December 22, 2000, had
sneaked into the Red Fort premises and opened indiscriminate firing
killing three persons, including two Army personnel.
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September 12: Police in the capital
Srinagar claimed to have foiled a suicide attack with the arrest
of three LeT militants. Mohammad Maqbool Mir alias Shaheen, Ishfaq
Ahmad Fazili alias Khand Peer and Ishtiyaq Ahmad Rather alias Billa
were arrested from the Karan Nagar locality where one of them had
acquired a house on rent. The Superintendent of Police (Special
Operations Group) stated that they were planning to carry out a
suicide attack on a Police or paramilitary target in the capital
city.
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September 10: At least one soldier,
Pawan Kumar, is reported to have died in a gunfight with militants
in the Rajwar area of Kupwara district. Spokesman of the LeT, Abdullah
Ghaznavi, claimed that five soldiers, including an officer, were
killed and eight more were injured in the attack. He claimed that
militants of the LeT, Al-Badr and JeM had already occupied a position
usually held by troops and launched the attack when a column of
army was on way to launch an operation.
Two armed LeT militants, Imtiyaz
Hussain and Niaz Ahmed, and accompanied by their local sympathisers
intruded into the house of Mohammed Amin at Tanta in the Doda district
and reportedly assaulted Amin and his daughter. Even as police personnel
from the nearby post rushed to the spot and engaged the militants
in an encounter, they managed to escape.
Police arrested three LeT militants,
who had recently been recruited into the outfit and given arms training
in Sopore (Baramulla district), from village Cheera under the jurisdiction
of Thathri police station in Doda district. Their recruiting agent,
identified as Akhter Hussain, was also apprehended. The arrested
militants were identified as Gulshan Ahmed Magrey, Manzoor Ahmed
Wani and Nissar Ahmed Parrey, all residents of village Tanta.
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September 9: Four suspected foreign
militants of the LeT outfit were shot dead by SF personnel and two
others escaped after they managed to sneak from across the LoC into
the Machil Sector of Kupwara district.
Tanweer Ahmad, a locally trained
LeT militant, was arrested from the Sogam area in Kupwara district.
September 4: A LeT militant, Khursheed
Ahmed, who was injured in an encounter with the SFs at Krawa forests
in the Ramban district on September 2, died in the forests and his
body was recovered on September 4.
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September 3: A soldier of the Territorial
Army was wounded when suspected militants triggered an IED blast
inside the shop of Army contractor Ghulam Mohiuddin at Bumhama in
the periphery of Kupwara town. Abdullah Ghaznavi, spokesperson of
the LeT, claimed responsibility for the attack.
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September 2: One LeT militant, Asif
Ali Sheikh alias Soba, was shot dead by SF personnel at Gund Adaikot
in the Ramban district.
Two LeT cadres, Naseer Ahmed Beig
alias Raju Beig and Mukhtiar Ahmed, while taking Hawala money worth
INR 300000 for their ‘commander’, Ashiq Hussain, were arrested from
Passari forest area under Bhaderwah police station in the Doda district.
They were working as over-ground workers for the outfit and used
to shift Hawala money and arms for the militants.
The Hyderabad Police filed a new
FIR charging 15 persons for their involvement in the August 25 twin
blasts in the city. All of them were booked under the Explosives
Act and for conspiring to carry out bomb attacks. Police Commissioner
Balwinder Singh said that only four of the 15 suspects are in police
custody. HuJI-BD ‘commander’ Shahid Bilal is among the 11 who are
out of the police custody. The new FIR is largely based on the revelations
of Sameer Sheikh alias Nayeem, an alleged LeT operative arrested
on the Bangladesh border in West Bengal on April 1, 2007. He is
also an accused in the Mumbai train blasts case. Nayeem reportedly
told investigators that he transported intruders and 10 kilograms
of RDX from Bangladesh to Mumbai and Hyderabad over the 18 months
period prior to his arrest.
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September 1: Roshan Din alias Abu
Darda, an ‘area commander’ of the LeT was killed by Reasi police
and army at Nakka Pathri in the Gulabgarh area of Udhampur district..
Abu Darda was active since 2000 and was involved in a number of
militant activities in Gool-Gulabgarh-Mahore belt.
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August 30: One LeT militant hailing
from Manipur, Mohammed Sadeeq, was arrested from the Dudu-Basantgarh
area of Kathua district in Jammu and Kashmir on an unspecified date.
"Mohd Sadeeq, a resident of Foibal in Manipur, was arrested in Dudu-Basantgarh
belt of Kathua district last week," said Kuldeep Khoda, the Director
General of Police of Jammu and Kashmir. According to police sources,
he is the first Bangladesh-trained militant from the Northeast to
be arrested in Jammu and Kashmir. He reportedly attended training
camps with al Qaeda operatives in Bangladesh. The report added that
Sadeeq was initially picked up for al Qaeda outfit, but was later
sent to Jammu and Kashmir along with a group of 10 to 15 militants,
as the LeT was facing a shortage of cadres there.
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August 28: Police are investigating
the connection of two Hyderabad based operatives of the LeT with
the HuJI in connection with the twin blasts in Hyderabad on August
25.
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August 23: A LeT militant, identified
as Abdul Hafiz a.k.a. Bashir Ahmed Mallah, a resident of Koti in
the Doda district who was involved in several killings, surrendered
before the police. Senior Superintendent of Police of Doda, Manohar
Singh, said that Bashir had joined militancy in 2003 and was active
in Doda and adjoining Bharat, Kulhand, Koti and Dessa areas.
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August 20: Two militants of the
LeT outfit were killed in a day-long encounter with the SFs at Ganevpora-Hablipora
village in the Shopian district.
-
August 19: A hardcore LeT militant,
Abu Bakar, was arrested by police from village Dudu under the jurisdiction
of Basantgarh police station in Udhampur district
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August 12: A hardcore militant of
the LeT, Rehman Saani alias Hanzulla, a Pakistani national, was
killed by the SF personnel at Hiff-Khour in the Zainapora area of
Pulwama district.
SFs arrested Gafoor Khan, an over-ground
worker of the LeT, from the Lolab area of Kupwara district.
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August 9:
Militants fired upon at a convoy of Army at
Sheeri near Baramulla. The troops retaliated and the exchange of
fire lasted for about 15 minutes. However, there was no report of
any casualty. The LeT has claimed responsibility for the attack.
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August 8:
SF personnel shot dead an ‘operations commander’
of the LeT, identified as Taib alias Abu Talah, during an encounter
at Hanjipora in the Kupwara district. One solider, one police personnel
and a civilian, Tariq Ahmad, sustained injuries during the encounter.
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August 7:
Police arrested a LeT militant, identified as
Manzoor Ahmed, from a hide-out at Cham Dhar in the Doda district.
Security forces arrested a civilian
allegedly working for the LeT in the Banihal area of Ramban district.
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August 6: A court in New Delhi sentenced
two LeT militants, Shahid Ahmed Bakshi, a resident of Ahmedabad
in Gujarat, and Farhan Ahmed Ali, a resident of Moradabad in Uttar
Pradesh, to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment for possessing arms
and explosives. The court had held them guilty on July 30 under
various provisions of the erstwhile POTA pertaining to unauthorised
possession of arms, ammunition and explosives. Additional Sessions
Judge Ravinder Kaur also fined the militants INR 50,000 each. The
militants were arrested at Nizamuddin in New Delhi on August 30,
2002, with four kilograms of RDX, two detonators and a Chinese-made
pistol along with magazine and 15 live cartridges.
Two top LeT militants, including an Afghan national,
were shot dead by police in an encounter in the Gandoh area of Doda
district. The slain militants were identified as John Mohammed (code
name Bilal), a resident of Kunthal and Abu Shakeel Afghani, a foreign
mercenary.
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August 5: During an encounter that
ensued after SFs launched a cordon-and-search operation at Pazipora
Chak in the Handwara area of Kupwara district, a LeT terrorist,
identified as Abu Talib alias Usama, was killed. However, one of
his associates managed to escape from the incident site.
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August 2: Two infiltrators were
killed by the troops at Sanga in the Krishna Ghati area of Poonch
district. Official sources said troops had observed the movement
of a group of infiltrators near Hawai Post of Army at Sanga and
in the ensuing encounter two infiltrators were killed while the
rest of their associates managed to escape. The slain militants
were believed to be Pakistanis belonging to the LeT outfit.
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July 31-August 1: The Army foiled
an infiltration attempt near Ghodetal in the Uri sector of Baramulla
district by killing all the eight terrorists. In the gun-battle,
Colonel V. Vasant, a Commanding Officer of 9 Maratha Light Infantry,
and a soldier, Lance Naik B. S. Ganapat, were also killed and a
soldier wounded. Deputy Inspector General of Police (North Kashmir),
B. Srinivas, said that the entire eight-member group of LeT infiltrators
had been neutralized by the SFs in a 60-hour-long operation.
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July 31: Two youths, Jamsheed Ahmed
and Shoaib Mohammed, were rescued from the captivity of LeT by the
troops in the Bagla Bharat area of Doda district.
-
July 30: The Doda district police
arrested two new recruits of the LeT outfit during a raid conducted
at Patnazi. They were identified as Aftab Ahmed and Mohammed Hashim.
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July 26: In the first Fidayeen (suicide
squad) attack since October 2006, SFs killed both the militants
at an encampment on the premises of Bhaba Atomic Research Centre
at Zakoora on the outskirts of capital Srinagar. Director General
of Police, Kuldeep Khoda, informed that two LeT militants made an
unsuccessful attempt to sneak into a formation of the paramilitary
Central Reserve Police Force at the defunct BARC facility at Zakoora.
Both the militants, who emerged from a deserted orchard, lobbed
hand grenades and opened gunfire on the pillboxes in the rear of
the camp. Even as eight soldiers sustained injuries, the troops
shot dead both the militants and also recovered two AK-56 rifles
and three hand grenades from their possession. He said that one
of the slain militants was identified as Feroz Ahmed Khan, a resident
of Kangan in the Kashmir valley, and another was believed to be
a Pakistani national. A LeT spokesman, Abdullah Ghaznavi claimed
responsibility of the two-and-a-half-hour-long attacks and reportedly
identified the slain militants as Feroz Khan alias Abu Muslim and
a "guest militant" Abu Ma'az.
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July 25: More than a dozen Muslims,
including at least one Pakistani and several US citizens of Pakistani-origin,
have been sentenced to imprisonment for their association with the
Pakistan-based LeT and for conspiracy to wage jihad against India.
Although one of the convicts, 32-year old Sabri Benkahla, of Falls
Church, Virginia, became a state witness, he too was sentenced this
week to 121 months in federal prison, and ordered to pay a $17,500
fine. He was found guilty of perjury before the grand jury and of
making false official statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
including his denial of involvement with an overseas jihad training
camp in 1999, as well as his asserted lack of knowledge about individuals
with whom he was in contact. Most of the convicts attended the Dar
al Arqam Islamic Centre in Falls Church, Virginia. In June 2003,
Benkahla and 10 others were indicted by a grand jury in Alexandria
for conspiring to attack Indian troops in Kashmir and the Russians
in Chechnya in the course of training for jihad in Virginia and
Pakistan. Among the defendants, Masaud Khan, Seifullah Chapman,
Randall Royer, Ibrahim Al-Hamdi, Muhammed Aatique, Yong Kwon, and
Khwaja Hasan, were alleged to have attended jihad training camps
operated by the LeT in 2000 and 2001. In September 2003, Khan and
Royer were charged with conspiring to wage war against the United
States, aid the Taliban, aid al Qaeda, and Khan, Royer, Chapman,
and Hammad Abdur-Raheem were charged with providing assistance to
the LeT.
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July 23: The Doda district police
neutralized a LeT hideout at Seoj Dhar under the jurisdiction of
Bhadarwah police station and recovered five kilograms of RDX, two
under barrel grenade launchers, nine hand grenades, 300 AK rounds,
12 SLR rounds, four AK magazines, one radio set, three detonators,
ration items and accessories of explosive devices. However, no arrests
were made from the hideout.
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July 23:
Official sources said a group of LeT militants
abducted and later killed Javid Iqbal, a cadre of the HM, from Kither
Bonjwa in the Gandoh area of Doda district. According to sources,
Iqbal had surrendered before the security forces about two years
back. However, he rejoined the HM group about six months back.
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July 22:
A LeT militant, identified as Mohammed Shaffi,
was killed in an encounter with the SFs at village Sangan in the
Banihal area of Ramban district. However, one of his associates
managed to escape from the encounter site.
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July 18:
Mohammad Khalid-ur-Rahman, a Pakistani national
who played a core role in organising the LeT’s pan-India terror
network, was killed in a shootout with police and troops near Bhaderwah
in the Doda district. A woman was also killed when the militant
lobbed grenade on a house to take refuge there.
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July 17:
Two Army soldiers, identified as Hari Kishore
and P.T. Vasant, were killed and eight others injured when a group
of five Pakistani cadres of the LeT ambushed a convoy of Rashtriya
Rifles in the Belni forests - between Tota Gali and Bhatta Durian
area – of Surankote tehsil in the Poonch district. The ambush followed
a heavy exchange of gun fighting between troops and militants for
two hours but the militants, who had taken position atop the hills,
managed to escape.
VDC members of village Bagiyana
killed another LeT terrorist. A defence spokesman said that VDC
members noticed movement of a terrorist in the Bagiyana nullah.
When the militant was challenged, he opened fire which was retaliated
by the VDC members. In the ensuing fire fight, the terrorist, identified
as Ghulam Mohammad, was killed.
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July 16:
Doda police arrested three hardcore over-ground
workers of the LeT outfit, including two Government employees. They
were identified as Ghulam Rasool alias Doctor, Rayees Ahmed Natnoo
and Tariq Saleem.
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July 7:
A Pakistani militant of the LeT, identified
as Abu Haider Zarar, operating in the Surankote area for last three
years, was killed inside a house while his two body-guards escaped
during an encounter with troops of Rashtriya Rifles at village Dandian |