Another Pakistani militant captured
SRINAGAR: A Pakistani terrorist was captured alive on Thursday while his four associates were killed in an overnight encounter with army in Kashmir, weeks after Naved from the Pakistan was nabbed in Udhampur. The arrested terrorist was identified as 22-yearold Sajjad Ahmed from Muzaffargarh in south west Pakistan.
A Pakistani terrorist was captured alive after an encounter with security forces in Kashmir on Thursday, the second this month after Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Mohammad Naveed.
The 22-year-old was caught while four of his companions were gunned down after a two-day encounter in north Kashmir on Thursday. A sixth man is said to be at large.
“He told us his name is Sajad alias Javed alias Abu Ubaidullah and that he is a resident of Muzaffargarh in Pakistan’s Balochistan,” said a top police official.
Like Naveed — caught alive after the ambush on a BSF convoy in Jammu’s Udhampur district on August 5 — he told interrogators that he was a Lashkar man, sources said. Sajad’s capture assumes significance in the light of the recently-cancelled NSAlevel talks between India and Pakistan and is likely to strengthen New Delhi’s dossier on cross-border terrorism and infiltration by Islamabad. The dossier, which already contains Naveed’s confession, will soon be submitted to Islamabad. Sajad was part of a six-man cell that infiltrated into India. “Five militants are accounted for — one captured and four killed in two days. One militant is still at large,” said a source, adding that a search was on.
According to the army, the encounter started in Kazinagar Dhar near the Line of Control in Uri sector on Wednesday morning. Sources said one militant was killed. An army spokesperson said the five terrorists escaped and holed up in a natural cave in Baramulla district’s Rafiabad.
The gunfight resumed on Thursday morning. “After an operation by the army and J&K Police, which lasted till the afternoon today, three more terrorists were eliminated while one was captured alive. Four AK-47 rifles and two UBGLs (underbarrel grenade launchers) were recovered,” the spokesperson said.
Sources said Sajad was “smoked out” of the cave with pepper grenades. A police official said he would soon be taken for joint interrogation to be conducted by the army and police.