Underground hideout where 3 militants were killed pulls crowds

Thousands of people Thursday thronged to the site of an underground hideout in an orchard near Binner village of Baramulla where three Lashkar militants were killed on Wednesday. 

Men, women and children were seen visiting the place to have a glimpse of the hideout in which the three militants were killed. 

   

The small hideout with a capacity of not more than four people has an air pipe on top of it. It has a small space where the hiding militants would attend nature’s call. 

“The sort of hardships that militants face can be realised only after seeing this hideout,” exclaimed Bashir Ahmad, a local of Binner village. 

A top army official while giving details about the operation said it was a clean operation based on “human intelligence”. 

He said during the entire operation the specific location of the militants was not clear to the forces. “However, the impressions of shoes on the snow proved a lead to the exact location of the militants’ hideout,” he said. 

 “The village area was cordoned much earlier by the security forces. However, the exact location of the hideout was a little issue. One of the factors which led to the exact location of the hideout was the impression of shoes (of the militants) on the snow,” said an official of the army, who was part of the operation. 

Suhaib Ahmad Akhoon, a Lashkar commander along with his two associates, Mohsin Mushtaq and Nasir Ahmad Darzi were killed during a gunfight on Wednesday. 

They, according to the police, were the last surviving militants of Baramulla town. 

Earlier, two militants, Javed Ahmad Dar and Akeel Ahmad Sofi from Khanpora Baramulla were killed during two separate encounters with the government forces at Amargarh, Sopore and Athoora, Kreeri of Baramulla district in 2017 and 2018 respectively. 

The trio killed on Wednesday were wanted militants in the Baramulla district and were “face of LeT outfit,” police said. 

“Suhaib had visited Pakistan on a passport and taken arms training at a camp in Pakistan. Soon after he returned back, he went underground and joined the militant outfit LeT,” said Imtiyaz Hussain SSP Baramulla.

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