The Hindu : Lashkar militants shot dead in Delhi shopping mall

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 04, 2002

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Lashkar militants shot dead in Delhi shopping mall

By Devesh K. Pandey

One of the cars which was damaged in the encounter between the police and the militants at the Ansal Plaza in New Delhi on Sunday. — Photo: R.V. Moorthy

NEW DELHI NOV. 3. Two Lashkar-e-Taiba militants were shot dead by personnel of the Special Cell of Delhi police in the underground parking lot of Ansal Plaza, a busy shopping centre, at Hauz Khas in south Delhi today.

A map of the capital, an AK-56 assault rifle, two pistols and six magazines were recovered from them.

The terrorists, according to the Joint Commissioner of Police, Special Cell, Neeraj Kumar, were planning to attack visitors at the busy Ansal Plaza market. The identities of the militants have not been established yet, but the map recovered from them suggested that they were planning to target Sarojini Nagar in south-west Delhi, Lajpat Nagar and the Ansal Plaza market complex in South Delhi.

Mr. Kumar said that around a month ago, intelligence agencies had cautioned the Special Cell of the presence of some militants who were planning to target busy market places during Deepavali.

The Special Cell learnt that the militants might target South Extension or Ansal Plaza. However, this afternoon they got a tip-off that the militants were planning to target Ansal Plaza. Subsequently, over 25 plainclothes men were deployed in and around the market complex.

At around 7 p.m., a white Maruti car (registration No DL8C B 3241) entered the market complex.

The security guard at the entry of the two-storeyed underground parking place tried to stop the vehicle for a routine check. However, the car forced its way into the basement. The terrorists parked the car near an exit point from where they had access to the market place through the stairs. The Special Cell sleuths who were deployed there challenged them.

Sensing that they had been surrounded, the duo whipped out pistols from their bag and opened fire at the police party. The terrorists separated and one of them ran towards the exit.

Hearing gunshots, another police team arrived on the spot. In the 15-minute exchange of fire that followed, both terrorists were gunned down.

Satish Sharma and Ashok Rajpal, residents of Model Town in north-west Delhi, who came down to the first floor of the underground parking lot through an elevator, were about to enter their car when they heard gunshots.

"We had no idea what was going on. It seemed as if bullets were being fired from various points. I ran towards a pillar, ducked and fell on the ground. The firing went on for several minutes," Mr. Sharma said, adding that bullet marks could be seen in many cars in the parking lot.

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