Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Nov 8: A top Pakistani militant of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit who slipped out of security forces cordon last month in Srinagar after a gun battle again gave slip to the security forces in North Kashmir’s Sopore township, highly placed sources said.
However, security forces recovered arms and ammunition from the hideout where from the LeT militant fled hardly half an hour before security forces raided it in Chankhan Sopore.
Security forces yesterday recovered one RPG launcher, one RPG booster, two AK-47 magazines, 135 rounds of ammunition and five UBGL grenades from the house of one Mohammad Salim Dar son of Abdul Razak Dar of Chankhan, Sopore where the LeT militant was hiding.
Reports said that 52 Rashtriya Rifles of Army and Special Operations Group of Jammu and Kashmir Police cordoned off Chankhan, Sopore after they received information that a top LeT militant was hiding in the house of Salim Dar.
Security forces conducted searches and continued the cordon around the locality for the night and yesterday morning they recovered the arms and ammunition from the house but the Pakistani militant along with the house owner Salim Dar had fled from the house hardly half an hour before the cordon.
Sources said that the LeT militant had arrived in Sopore from Srinagar hardly few hours before the security forces cordoned the Sopore locality.
The LeT militant stayed in Ahmad Nagar area of Srinagar for over a month before moving to Sopore in North Kashmir three days ago.
The militant was trapped in a security cordon on October 2 in Ahmad Nagar area of Srinagar in a Shawl weaving centre after Police and CRPF launched a joint operation.
At least eight police men including a Sub-Inspector of Police were injured in the gun battle that raged and the LeT militant fled to nearby Anchar lake under the cover of darkness.
Security forces later launched massive searches of Ahmad Nagar and Anchar but the militant was not found. After receiving reports of his continuous presence in the area Special Operations Group of Jammu and Kashmir Police laid an ambush in the evening of October 11 in Ahmad Nagar. As a blanket clad militant reached near the ambush party, the SOG men pounced upon him but he dropped the blanked and fled by firing few gun shots.
Police and CRPF launched several operations in the area to trace him out since early last month. However, he continued in the area for about a month before he moved out of Ahmad Nagar in Srinagar to Sopore this week.
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