A top commander of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayiba was on Thursday arrested and his close aide was killed in an encounter with security forces in Sopore township of north Kashmir, police said.
Militants attacked Ghulam Nabi Khan, president of the Sopore trader's federation, in the main chowk of the town on Sunday morning. They shot at Khan, who was critically injured, a senior police official said. "Khan was taken to the local hospital at Sopore where he succumbed to his injuries," the officer said. The area was surrounded by the police and paramilitary forces and a massive hunt was launched to nab the killers, said the police.
'We want to ensure that no government in J&K will be formed without our support.'
Two days after militants killed a cop and a civilian in the apple rich north Kashmir's Sopore town, they struck again on Monday evening killing another cop and wounding a civilian.
Militants gunned down a Special Police Officer and critically wounded a trooper of the Territorial Army in north Kashmir's Sopore town on Saturday afternoon. A senior police officer said the attack happened in Brat Kalan locality of Sopore town, 54 km from capital Srinagar.
The police said it launched an anti-militancy operation in Chanakhan area of Sopore, 55 km from Srinagar, with army's assistance following information about the presence of militants in the area.
One militant was killed and five people, including two cops, were injured in a triple militant strike in north Kashmir's Sopore town on Saturday.
"Immediately after the blasts, a group of policemen went outside to locate the place where from the grenades had been fired. Terrorists triggered a pre-planted improvised explosive device they had kept inside a parked scooter when the policemen neared it," the officer said
The Superintendent of Police of Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore district, Altaf Khan, was on Tuesday shifted in the wake of the death of a youth allegedly in police custody in the north Kashmir town on Sunday.
The security forces eventually blasted the building where he was hiding and firing from, media reports said.
A cable operator was shot at and killed by unidentified militants inside his house in north Kashmir's apple-rich Sopore town on Friday night.
"Three civilians and a CRPF trooper were injured in the explosion. The injured were taken to hospital for treatment," the spokesman said.
A top terrorist of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba was killed in the nightlong gunfight in north Kashmir's apple rich Sopore town, 54 kms from Srinagar. Security forces had surrounded a house in Sopore's Baghat locality on Monday morning during which the holed up militants fired at them resulting in critical injuries to a policeman and two Rashtriya Rifles troopers.
Samir Ahmad Wani alias Jaan Sahib was killed in a gunbattle with security forces at Nagri Hatmulla in Kupwara district, a police official said.
He said troops of 22 Rashtriya Rifles and special operations group (SOG) of the state police jointly surrounded Noorbagh locality of the Sopore town, 54 km from Srinagar on Sunday evening on a specific information.
The Lashkar-e-Tayiba militant, who was allegedly involved in the murder of two teenaged sisters in Sopore town of Baramulla district, was killed by security forces in the apple town on Sunday. Wasim Ahmad Ganaie, who had taken shelter in an underground drainage system in Muslim Peer area of Sopore on Saturday, was killed in the wee hours of Sunday, officials said. The officials said Ganaie was one of the two militants who had abducted and then shot dead Arifa and Akhter.
The body of Bilal Ahmad Wani, the 23-year old youth killed during clashes with Central Reserve Police Force personnel on Friday, was buried in north Kashmir's Sopore town on Monday morning. Angry locals carried the body of the youth to the main chowk, shouting pro-freedom and anti-India slogans. Security forces fired warning shots and tear smoke shells and resorted to baton charges to disperse the agitated protestors who were trying to march to the police station.
Three persons were injured, two of them with rubber bullets in post Friday prayer protests in north Kashmir's Sopore town.
An Army captain and two jawans were killed and a militant was gunned down in an encounter between terrorists and security forces in Sopore, the 'apple town' of North Kashmir, which recently witnessed increased incidents of violence.
To effectively deal with the law and order situation, the Jammu and Kashmir government announced the carving out of a separate police district in north Kashmir Sopore town.
"Security forces have neutralised both the militants who were holed up in the camp in a fresh offensive launched this morning after the overnight halt in the operations," a CRPF spokesman said.
The terrorists struck at the police picket in Tujjar Sharief area of Sopore in Baramulla by opening fire.
The previous highest voter turnout in the Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency was witnessed in 1984 at 58.90 percent.
Terrorists attacked the residence of the Sopore police chief in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday night by hurling grenades and opening fire. However, no one was injured in the attack that occurred at midnight, a senior police officer said.
Stone-pelting protestors clashed with security forces in Sopore town of north Kashmir, forcing Central Reserve Police Force personnel to open fire in which one person succumbed to his injuries.
Two terrorists, including a top commander of the Harkat-ul-Mujaheedin outfit, and a soldier of the Indian Army were killed in a fierce encounter near north Kashmir's Sopore town on Wednesday.
Militants on Friday fired rifle grenades targeting an army bunker guarding a camp of the security forces in north Kashmir Sopore town.
A massive protest broke out in Sopore town of north Kashmir on Tuesday evening as the body of a youth was fished out from Jhelum after he allegedly jumped into the river to escape police action.
Two policemen were arrested on Saturday evening for their alleged involvement in the custodial death of 27-year-old youth Nazim Rashid Shalla in north Kashmir's Sopore town.
Three militants were killed in a fierce gunbattle with security forces in a village at Sopore in north Kashmir's Baramulla district on Monday.
An undertrial Pakistani militant and a police constable were killed, and four security personnel injured, in a blast inside a police vehicle in North Kashmir's Sopore town on Saturday afternoon.
Terrorists struck twice in north Kashmir's apple rich town of Sopore on Tuesday wounding two civilians. A police spokesman said the terrorists shot at and injured a shopkeeper identified as Majid Bashir Khan in the Chottabazzar area of Sopore town on Thursday morning."Majid was taken to hospital for treatment with a bullet injury in his left leg", the spokesman said. Security forces rushed to the spot and the area was searched.
A senior police official told rediff.com that the gunmen shot at Aijaz Ahmad Reshi from close range near his house in the Mundji Sopore area. He succumbed to bullet wound before he could be taken to the hospital.
Authorities imposed curfew in north Kashmir Sopore and Baramulla towns and curfew-like-restrictions in the summer capital Srinagar to foil separatist called sit-ins and protests Wednesday.
The moderate Hurriyat Conference on Wednesday condemned the killing of two sisters at Sopore in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district terming it as an inhuman act. The statement hit back at those who had questioned separatists' silence over the killings.
The policemen were patrolling the area in view of a separatist-sponsored strike.
A captain from the Indian Army was wounded in an encounter with terrorists in north Kashmir's Sopore town on Tuesday evening.
A top Lashkar-e-Tayiba militant was killed in a six-hour-long gun-battle with security forces in Sopore town of north Kashmir Baramulla district, the police said.
The decision to lift curfew from the two towns in North Kashmir came after Deputy Commissioner, Baramulla, Bashir Ahmad Bhat held a meeting with local representatives and discussed various measures to restore law and order on Wednesday evening.