Three ultras holed up in mosque killed

SRINAGAR, JULY 30. Three pro-Pakistan Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militants who were holed up inside a mosque at Goigam village, 24 km from here, were today killed in an encounter with security forces, even as the army moved in to assist the BSF in flushing them out of the shrine, a senior BSF official said.

Among those killed was a self-styled battalion commander of the outfit, Mustafa Khan, the Deputy Inspector General of BSF, Mr. R.P. Singh, told PTI. An army captain was injured in the operation but there was no report of any damage to the shrine housing the graves of Baba Abdullah and Shah Ali Kirmani - disciples of Mohammed Ali Sahib - he said.

While the bodies of the three militants were retrieved from the shrine after several hours of gun-battle, efforts were on to neutralise the fourth militant who was still inside.

Meanwhile, the army scuttled an attempt by ultras to infiltrate into the State. Eight militants were killed and 11 others injured in separate incidents since Sunday night. Two militants were arrested and two laid down their arms, while unidentified militants abducted a person during the period, an official spokesman said today.

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