Shopian rape & murder case,20 lakh rupees award….

KT NEWS SERVICE
SRINAGAR, Aug 28: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of police, investigating the Shopian rape and murder case, today announced a cash reward of Rs 20 lakh for the person or persons giving vital clues, leading to the identification of guilty. In a paid advertisement to newspapers, SIT has assured to keep the names of persons, providing clues secret.
The announcement by SIT was made after it failed to get the vital clues about the guilty during its investigations.
Four senior police officers continue to be in jail after the state High Court ordered their arrest. They were indicted by the Judicial Commission of Inquiry (JCI) for destroying the vital evidences in the case. JCI had recommended their prosecution. Later the state government made the officers including the then SP Javaid Mattoo, Dy SP Rohit Baskotra, SHO Shafeeq and inspector Gazi Abdul Karim accused in the case.
The arrested cops had approached the Supreme Court for bail but it directed them to approach the Sessions Court in Shopian for bail. The Sessions Court, Shopian denied them bail, subsequently their bail issue moved to the state High Court, which is already monitoring the case.
The state government has already decided to hand over the case to CBI after it was found that the vital forensic evidence in the case was fudged at the government level. The government had approached the high court for permission for transferring the case to CBI.
Meanwhile, strong peaceful protest demonstrations were held at Shopian after Friday prayers today against the ‘delay’ by the government in arresting all the culprits responsible for rape and murder of teenaged girl Asiya and her sister-inª-law Neelofar on May 29.
Amid high pitched slogans, “Sab Qatiloon Ko Saza Do”, (Punish all the accused), the protestors marched from Tak Masjid to Jamia Masjid. They were also shouting slogans against the government and demanded immediate arrest of accused in the Shopian incident.
The traffic movement was suspended for sometime due to protests. The protestors were also demanding the release of six youth arrested by police last evening.
Reports said that Majlis Mashawarat Shopian (MMS) spearheading the Shopian agitation had last evening announced on public address system and loud speakers of masjids that the Friday prayers will be offered at 1.30 PM at all masjids in the town.
It may be recalled here that protest demonstrations were held in Shopian against the alleged atrocities by police. Police had to fire in air, burst smoke shells and resort to lathi-charge to disperse the demonstrators. Twelve persons were injured in the police action and subsequent clashes between protestors and cops.
Meanwhile, strong protest demonstrations were held at Singhpora Baramulla against the setting up of a CRPF camp in the area. The locals threatened to migrate en-masses from the area, if security forces camp was set up.
Reports said that around 4000 kanals of land were already under the occupation of CRPF and army in the area. This morning strong protests were held at Singhpora, at about five kilometers from Baramulla against setting up of CRPF camp.
Locals alleged that huge contingents of CRPF landed at Singhpora last evening and summoned the locals asking them to provide land for setting up the camp. They said that CRPF told them that they will be paid rent for land and fruit orchards used for setting up of a camp.
This morning locals held a strong protest demonstration against setting up of camp. They shouted slogans against CRPF and the government and blocked the Singhpora Baramulla road for traffic form some time. Local market also remained closed in protest.
Locals later visited the DC Baramulla Lateef Zaman and conveyed strongly resentment against the setting up of one more camp in the area. They told DC that some 30 years before CRPF forcibly occupied around 1700 kanals of land and set up a camp there and later in 1994, 52 Rashtriya Rifles forcibly occupied around 1750 kanals of land on which fruit orchards were spread and set the camp.
They told district civil chief that Singhpora has already been converted into a military garrison and if third camp was set up, they will migrate en-masses from the area. DC assured locals that the there was already heavy presence of security forces in the village and CRPF will not be allowed to set up camp.
Following assurances by DC, the locals called off protests. Later DC told media persons that CRPF was assessing some place to set up a camp in the area but the district administration will address the concerns of locals resenting against the setting up of camp.
source:kashmir times

Doctors shocked at hostages’s torture

November 30, 2008 19:53 IST
They said that just one look at the bodies of the dead hostages as well as terrorists showed it was a battle of attrition that was fought over three days at the Oberoi and the Taj hotels in Mumbai.Doctors working in a hospital where all the bodies, including that of the terrorists, were taken said they had not seen anything like this in their lives.

“Bombay has a long history of terror. I have seen bodies of riot victims, gang war and previous terror attacks like bomb blasts. But this was entirely different. It was shocking and disturbing,” a doctor said.

Asked what was different about the victims of the incident, another doctor said: “It was very strange. I have seen so many dead bodies in my life, and was yet traumatised. A bomb blast victim’s body might have been torn apart and could be a very disturbing sight. But the bodies of the victims in this attack bore such signs about the kind of violence of urban warfare that I am still unable to put my thoughts to words,” he said.

Asked specifically if he was talking of torture marks, he said: “It was apparent that most of the dead were tortured. What shocked me were the telltale signs showing clearly how the hostages were executed in cold blood,” one doctor said.

The other doctor, who had also conducted the post-mortem of the victims, said: “Of all the bodies, the Israeli victims bore the maximum torture marks. It was clear that they were killed on the 26th itself. It was obvious that they were tied up and tortured before they were killed. It was so bad that I do not want to go over the details even in my head again,” he said.

Corroborating the doctors’ claims about torture was the information that the Intelligence Bureau had about the terror plan. “During his interrogation, Ajmal Kamal said they were specifically asked to target the foreigners, especially the Israelis,” an IB source said.

It is also said that the Israeli hostages were killed on the first day as keeping them hostage for too long would have focused too much international attention. “They also might have feared the chances of Israeli security agencies taking over the operations at the Nariman House,” he reasoned.

On the other hand, there is enough to suggest that the terrorists also did not meet a clean, death.

The doctors who conducted the post mortem said the bodies of the terrorists were beyond recognition. “Their faces were beyond recognition.”

There was no way of identifying them,” he said. Asked how, if this is the case, they knew the bodies were indeed those of the terrorists, he said: “The security forces that brought the bodies told us that those were the bodies of the terrorists,” he said, adding there was no other way they could have identified the bodies.

An intelligence agency source added: “One of the terrorists was shot through either eye.”

A senior National Security Guard officer, who had earlier explained the operation in detail to rediff.com, said the commandos went all out after they ascertained that there were no more hostages left. When asked if the commandos attempted to capture them alive at that stage, he replied: “Unko bachana kaun chahega (Who will want to save them)?”

source:rediff.com

terrorists killed,taj,oberoi,nariman house freed from terrorists

The operation to flush out terrorists from Taj Hotel is over, signalling an end to the 62-hour siege by terrorists three of whom were killed this morning in an assault by the elite commandos of National Security Guards (NSG).

However, the NSG is still sanitising the hotel to check if any remaining terrorist or explosive is still in the 400-room hotel, NSG Director General J K Dutt told reporters.

“The commandos killed three terrorists after intense gun-battle inside the hotel,” Dutt said.

An AK-47 rifle was also recovered from them.

“There was lot of shooting. Grenades were lobbed and explosives were used by the terrorists,” he said.

Dutt said the “operation” to secure the 100-year-old heritage hotel in Colaba area completely was still in progress and NSG was undertaking the combing operation.

“We cannot say the operation is over till we check the hotel. Each floor, each room will be checked” to ensure that no more terrorist is hiding in the hotel or no explosives are hidden there, the NSG chief said.

Giving details of the operation, Dutt said the terrorists would set afire the hotel rooms whenever they came under pressure from the NSG commandos.

This was to divert the attention of the NSG, he said, adding that the commandos were, however, undeterred by these tactics and continued their assault resulting in the success.

“We are also looking for any surviving guests, still locked up in the rooms and not coming out for the fear of terrorist attack,” Dutt said.

Dutt appealed to the surviving guests to open curtains of their windows to help them identify and rescue them while assuring that NSG has the expertise to neutralise the terrorists from the window.

“The body which was seen falling out of the first floor window was of a terrorist,” he said.

The forces had secured the other luxury hotel Trident Oberoi and a Jewish Centre yesterday while maintaining that a lone gunman continued to hold out inside the Taj hotel at the end of the pitched combat that left 30 hostages dead.

At the Centre, a residential complex housing a prayer hall, commandos were air dropped from helicopters in first such operation in urban India during which the security forces spent the entire day to clear it. Two terrorists were killed but not before five of the hostages were eliminated by them.

The might of the Indian security forces had to be brought in to rid these landmarks in the country’s financial capital of the heavily-armed suspected Pakistani terrorists, but the costs were heavy.

When the Oberoi was cleared of the terrorists, as many as 30 hostages were found dead raising the toll in the worst terrorist strike against India to over 160 including 16 security personnel. Eleven terrorists were also eliminated and one was captured on Friday.

Police Commissioner Hassan Gaffoor separately told reporters that four terrorists were holed up at the Taj and they were killed in the last two days.

Over ten terrorists were holed up in the three buildings — Taj, Oberoi-Trident and Nariman House in the South Mumbai, he said, adding nine of them killed and one captured.

Eyewitnesses said that there was a carnage in the Oberoi’s upper lobby restaurant ‘Tiffin’ and bodies were strewn all over in both the five star hotels.

Eerie silence was slowly descending on the city as it was coming to terms with the terror attack.

Most of the bodies were taken to J J hospital for post-mortem which had been delayed as the morgues in the South Mumbai government hospital were full.

Surgeons from another government hospital were in Oberoi-Trident to examine bodies and attend to injured.

source:news agencies

planning of Mumbai terror attack

Investigators working on the Mumbai terror attack have unearthed vital information about how the terrorists managed to enter Mumbai.

The interrogations of the two arrested terrorists, Abu Ismail and Ajmal Kamal, have revealed that 20 men were involved in the terror attack. While eight terrorists set up base in Hotel Trident and Taj Mahal Hotel ,12 others came to Mumbai in a boat.

Intelligence Bureau officials are trying to verify if the terrorists came in through the Persian Gulf.

The arrested terrorists have revealed that they hijacked two fishing boats and used them to come to Mumbai, armed with guns and ammunition.

He further stated that while one of the boats landed at Cuffe Parade near the fishermen’s colony, the other landed at Sassoon dock.

The terrorists had initially planned to send in only one team to carry out the attacks and the other team was to be kept on stand-by.

However, the plan changed at the last minute, and the terrorists decided to execute the terror attacks together, Ismail reportedly told the police.

According to the officials of the Intelligence Bureau, the attacks had been planned in  February, and this fact was confirmed by an arrested accused in the CRPF camp attack case. The accused had revealed that a Fidayeen attack had been ordered by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the target was Mumbai.

The accused had told the police that the LeT planned to attack the Taj Mahal Hotel and the Bombay Stock Exchange.

During his interrogation, Ismail admitted that he and his associates had undergone rigourous training for this operation, which had been planned meticulously.

Investigating officials are not ruling out the possibility of local elements providing logistical support to the terrorists.

Ismail further told the investigators that the terrorists had undergone extensive training in using AK-47 and grenades at a camp in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

During the training programme, they were shown the detailed layout of the Taj Mahal Hotel, in order to acquaint them with the topography of the places they would have to attack. After the training at PoK was complete, the entire team was shifted to Karachi, where they received training in sailing as their plan included entering India through the sea route.

source:rediff

sketches and pictures of delhi bomb blast suspects

 

These are the sketches of the suspects of delhi bomb blast.These sketches were released by Delhi police on 16-09-08.Interpol has also been alerted….