SRINAGAR: A suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant, who was planning to carry out attacks on police personnel in south Kashmir, was on Saturday arrested by security forces from Shopian District.
“Shopian Police and army apprehended a newly recruited LeT militant involved in incidents of attack and weapon snatching in south Kashmir,” a police spokesman said.
“Acting on a tip off, the LeT militant was arrested in a joint operation by police and 44 Rashtriya Rifles in Shopian. A Chinese pistol with six rounds was recovered from his possession,” the spokesman said.
The arrested militant, identified as Umar Yaqoob alias Tiger, was planning to carry out similar attacks on police personnel in Shopian and Pulwama Districts, he said.
Tiger was recruited by LeT militants Ayatullah Bhat alias Khumeni and Waseem Ahmad Shah, he said.
He was specifically tasked to carry out major killing incidents in the heart of Shopian town, he said, adding the arrested militant was involved in the recent grenade blast at Batpura Chowk and attack on policeman for weapon snatching.
Earlier, Tiger on 27th May had managed to escape during a ‘Naka’ checking, taking advantage of crowd and heavy traffic flow of main market Shopian, he said.
“Tiger’s arrest is a major blow to militants’ sinister designs to destablise the peace in Kashmir,” the spokesman added.
Meanwhile, security forces busted a militant hideout and seized arms and ammunition in Nowshera area of Rajouri District.
“Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of Uniform Force and J-K Police busted a militant hideout at Nowshera. The operation was jointly conducted by the troops of Uniform Force and J-K Police,” Jammu-based Defence Spokesman Lt Col Manish Mehta said.
He said the “cache of war like stores” included two IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devises) (4.5 Kg and 3.5 Kg), one fuse, two AK magazines (rusted) and one hand grenade. “All this was destroyed in situ today,” he said.
The other recoveries from the hideout included 52 cartridges of 7.62 mm, two mobile chargers, two battery (cordless phone type), one mobile battery, six duracell pencil cell, one RS antenna, one Pathani suit and one pouch.
He said the cache of arms and ammunition might have been dumped by the militants inside the cave-type hideout to be used in the future.
Meanwhile, Security forces on Saturday recovered a cache of explosives along with other items for making IEDs in Kathua District, a defence official said.
Acting on a tip-off, the troops of Army’s Intelligence Corps and J-K Police undertook a joint operation for searching a suspected location and recovered a cache of locally-made explosives, along with items used in making IEDs from a remote village near Bilawar, the official said.
Locally-made explosives, glass shrapnels, pencil batteries, gelatin sticks, primer cords and detonator were recovered in the search operation, he said.
The items could be used in preparing lethal Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), the spokesperson said, adding that further probe is on.