The Hindu : 'Farooq on militant hit list'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 15, 2002

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'Farooq on militant hit list'

By Shujaat Bukhari

SRINAGAR AUG. 14. The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah, is among the targets of a 40-member `fidayeen' (suicide) squad of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), which had entered the city to disrupt the Independence Day celebration as also the coming elections.

This was disclosed by the IGP (Kashmir zone), K. Rajindra Kumar, who said that the militants had entered Srinagar in four groups to carry out suicide attacks. "On the top of their hit list is Dr. Abdullah.

The other targets include sensitive installations such as Radio Kashmir, Doordarshan and the Civil Secretariat." All efforts were being made to prevent the attacks and the security of top politicians, including Dr Abdullah, had been reviewed.

Mr. Rajindra added that the militants could resort to attacks by long-range rifle grenades. Police were looking for one of the top JeM "commanders", Gazi Baba, who is believed to be involved in the December 13 attack on Parliament.

He was also the mastermind of the `fidayeen' attacks in Kashmir, including the one on the Assembly on October 1 last.

Mr. Rajindra said that militant outfits such as the Hizb-ul Mujahideen, the Tehreek-ul Mujahideen, the Al-Umar and the Jamiat-ul Mujahideen would also try to disrupt the Independence Day celebrations.

A few weeks ago, the Jamiat-ul Mujahideen had claimed responsibility for the attacks on National Conference activists and stated that it had formed a special squad, Al-Jabbar, to wipe out political workers.

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'Farooq on militant hit list'