Sopur, June 22: Police on Tuesday claimed to have killed a top commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba in a fierce gunfight in Sopur town of Varmul district.
“We have killed deputy commander in chief of LeT Zubair alias Hamza in the gunfight,” said Superintendent of Police, Sopur, Altaf Ahmed Khan.
The gunfight started on Monday afternoon in Baghat Batpora area of the town, after serial attacks by militants. A cop was killed and four others including two civilians, a cop and a trooper were wounded in the initial round of firing yesterday.
 Before the gunfight started, suspected militants fired two grenades injuring eight persons including six civilians and two cops in the morning.
 Meanwhile troops and SOG personnel continued house-to-house searches in several localities of the town. The people staged protest demonstrations against the siege, but police and paramilitary CRPF troopers fired teargas canisters to disperse them.
 The two-day encounter left a trail of destruction in Baghat Batpora area. Three houses were damaged and eight suffered partial damaged in the gunfight.
 The locals accused troopers and SOG personnel of resorting to indiscriminate blasting which damaged the houses.
 With fake encounters raising doubts on all gunfights in the valley, the residents of Bijjhama Uri this afternoon did not allow the police to dug a grave in village, insisting them to show the body of the militant first.
 Police later dug up a grave in Braipora village of the area.
 Police sources said that they feared large-scale protests in Sopur town if they handed over the body to locals for burial.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 22 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST