The Hindu : Front Page : Fidayeen strike at CRPF camp in J&K

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 12, 2007
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Fidayeen strike at CRPF camp in J&K

Shujaat Bukhari and Praveen Swami

Attack comes on eve of UJC ceasefire

SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI: A fidayeen attack in Srinagar left three police personnel injured on the eve of a 72-hour, unilateral ceasefire declared by the Pakistan-based United Jihad Council.

Officials said a two-member suicide squad stormed the headquarters of 144 Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force, housed in a hotel on the boulevard along the Dal Lake.

Gun-fight continuing

CRPF officials said the militants threw grenades at a guard post outside the hotel, and used the ensuing chaos to enter the premises. CRPF personnel reacted rapidly and confined the terrorists to a corner of the building. A gun-fight was going on.

The officials said one of the militants might have been killed, but confirmation would be available only at first light.

This is the second such strike in Srinagar this year. It appeared to have been timed to coincide with religious observances leading up to the Juma’t al’vida, last Friday of the holy month of Ramzan. Believers mark the occasion with night-long prayers.

No confirmation was available on which terror group carried out the attack, but intelligence sources told The Hindu that it was most likely the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

On Monday, a Lashkar spokesperson told local newspapers that “fidayeen attacks would continue until India vacates Jammu and Kashmir.”

Notably, Lashkar pamphlets exhort cadre to execute armed operations during this time, claiming that their actions will earn an additional divine reward.

Unlike mainly ethnic-Kashmiri terror groups such as the Hizb ul-Mujahideen, the Lashar-e-Taiba is not a member of the UJC, a coalition of 18 organisations based out of Pakistan.

The intelligence sources in New Delhi said the operation was most likely carried out to embarrass UJC chairman and Hizb ul-Mujahideen chief Mohammad Yusuf Shah, by demonstrating he does not have the influence to make a ceasefire hold. The attack might also have been intended to undermine All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who had called on followers to peacefully observe the last Friday of Ramzan as “Kashmir day.”

Mysterious blast

Earlier in the day, five Army men and two civilian labourers were killed in a blast in an Army camp at Hamray on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway. A defence spokesman said the blast was caused by a gas cylinder burst. However, the Hizbul Mujahideen said it caused the blast.

At Watergam Rafiabad, a Junior Commissioned Officer and a soldier were killed when militants ambushed them while they were on patrol in the area.

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