Militants driven out of mosque

SRINAGAR, JUNE 20. In the third incident of its kind within a month, three militants temporarily took shelter in a mosque today while one of their associates was shot dead by security personnel just before entering the religious place in Kupwara town of north Kashmir.

An official spokesman said a suspected foreign militant was killed when a BSF search party confronted a group of militants who appeared near a local mosque at village Meelyal in frontier district of Kupwara.

The BSF had moved to the village early today to conduct a search operation following information about the presence of militants there.

After the initial gunfight, three associates of the killed militant took shelter in the mosque, but left it when the troops zeroed in. The BSF search parties chased the militants and engaged them in another encounter before the militants fled into the nearby forest, the spokesman said.

He said the mosque suffered no damage during the gunbattle. An AK assault rifle, a wireless set and some ammunition were recovered.

On May 30, three militants of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit remained holed up for nearly 20 hours in a mosque in Shopian area of south Kashmir and were provided safe passage to avoid any damage to the place of worship.

In another incident, six militants took shelter in a mosque in Shangus in Anantnag district and were killed in a 40- hour-long Army operation on June 12.

- PTI

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