Police arrest 4 LeT terrorists for civilian’s murder in Valley

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir police on Sunday arrested four men linked to terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba for the murder of a taxi drivers’ union president in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district last week, an official familiar with the matter said.

Mohammad Shafi Lone was gunned down on October 5. On the same day, Virender Paswan, a vendor from Bihar and ML Bindroo, a pharmacist were also killed by terrorists in the Valley.

“The arrested terrorist associates have been identified as Tariq Ahmad Dar, alias Tariq Khoucha, Mohammad Shafi Dar, Mudasir Hassan Lone and Bilal Ah Dar, alias Sahb Khoucha, “a police spokesperson said.

“During the course of the investigation, it was found that the killing was carried out at the instruction of Lashkar-e-Taiba handler Lala Umar, a resident of Pakistan,” the police official added.One of the suspected conspirators, identified as Imtiyaz Ah Dar, alias Kotru, is still at large, the spokesman said. “Further arrests are expected.” There has been a spate of civilian killings in the disturbed Kashmir valley in the recent past. As many as seven people have been gunned down by suspected terrorists since October 3.

NIA conduct raids, arrests two in Bathindi IED case

The National Investigation Agency on Sunday arrested two terrorists of The Resistance Force (TRF) — an offshoot of the proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit -- following raids across seven locations in Jammu & Kashmir in connection with the recovery of Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Jammu on June 27 this year, officials said.

NIA carried out the searches in the Kulgam, Srinagar and Baramulla with the assistance of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Jammu and Kashmir Police, said an official aware of the matter.

“Investigation has revealed that Pakistan based handlers of proscribed terror outfit LeT and their associates based in J&K had conspired to cause extensive terror activities for harming the general public,” the agency said.