Sopore, Dec 27: Police on Monday claimed that 26 militants were killed while 12 others were arrested by police, army and CRPF during this year in Sopore police district.  
 “Despite success, there is presence of militants in north Kashmir especially in Sopore and its peripheries and efforts are on to eliminate them. Operations have been carried out in most professional way,” Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police north Kashmir, Munir Ahmed Khan told a news conference here in north Kashmir. 
 He said that at least 15 to 20 militants were active in the Sopore area.
 Referring to the stone pelting incidents in the area, Khan, who was flanked by SP Sopore Altaf Ahmed Khan, Commanding Officer of 179 battalion CRPF V K Singh and DSP operations Ashiq Hussain Tak said that there was nexus between stone pelters and militants. “Lashkar-e-Toiba is sponsoring stone pelting in the area. Top commanders of LeT, including Abdullah Uni and  Qalimullah , also indulged in stone pelting,” he said. 
 The DIG said a “stone pelter” Firdous Ahmed Shiekh of Jalalabad Sopore broke down during questioning and led police team to the house of one Muhammad Amin Dar at Badambagh from where a huge cache of arms and ammunition was recovered.
 Khan claimed that that some government employees and Hurriyat cadres in close liaison with militants were fomenting trouble in the town. "Hurriyat (G) cadres were raising the money for stone pelting and maximum chunk comes  from fruit mandi and saw mills,” he said, but he was quick to add that “fruit growers were coerced to pay.”
 “One stone-pelter Abdul Lateef Lone during interrogation revealed that every youth gets Rs 400 on Fridays to participate in the stone pelting,” he added.
 Evading direct response to query about the presence of Chechen militants in Sopore, he said, " I have not seen them."

Lastupdate on : Mon, 27 Dec 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 27 Dec 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 28 Dec 2010 00:00:00 IST