J&K Police nab 7 Hizb operatives

Had planned attacks to disrupt bypolls

Just two weeks ahead of the Parliament by-polls, the Jammu and Kashmir Police have arrested seven suspected militants who were planning attacks to disrupt the elections. “We have busted a module of the Hizbul Mujahideen by arresting seven militants. The arrests were made after the police received a specific intelligence input on March 21 that the banned outfit has formed a module to carry out attacks to disrupt the elections,” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Kulgam, Shridhar Patil told reporters.

The arrests were made in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, 70 km from here. He claimed Hizbul district commander Altaf Dar alias Al-Kachroo and Towseef Sheikh alias Mossad had formed the module.The SSP said a pistol and some ammunition have been recovered from their possession, and they expect more arrests in the coming days. The byelections to the Srinagar and Anantnag Lok Sabha constituencies are to be held on April 9 and April 12, respectively.

As incidents of violence have seen an increase ahead of the bypolls, the state government has demanded 100 additional companies of paramilitary forces from New Delhi to augment the existing strength of the security forces.On Sunday, two Hizbul militants were killed in a brief gunfight in Padgampora village in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district. Later in the evening, militants decamped with at least four weapons and injured two policemen after opening fire at the ancestral residence of ruling PDP minister at Dooru in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.