 (IANS) Ashraf Ganaie, a divisional commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) who masterminded the killing of 35 Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir earlier this year, was killed in a encounter crossfire gunfight with security forces Wednesday evening. A close associate of the LeT commander was also killed in the more than six-hour-long fierce gun battle with forces of the Indian Army and police in Karra village of Doda district, about 200 km north of here.
The militants had killed 35 Hindus; 22 in Kulhand on May 1 and 13 in Basantgarh area of the adjacent hilly district of Udhampur a day earlier - the worst massacre of Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir in the past three years.
It was around 10 a.m. when a joint operation to nab the militant was launched in the sparsely populated village. "A stoolie specific information led us to the militant's hideout," Senior Superintendent of Police (Doda) Manohar Singh said, ...
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... adding that the operation's success was due to the grit and determination of the security forces. "We were determined this time that we would not allow Ashraf to escape," Manohar Singh told IANS on phone. "He had been dodging us for the past over six months, and we knew that today it was our opportunity to neutralise him." Col. D K. Badola, spokesperson of 16 corps of the army, said that it was an "operation conducted with precision". Inspector General of Police (Jammu Zone) S.P. Vaid said it was a "big success for the security forces". |