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Showing posts from January 4, 2009

Poonch encounter ends,finally :Mukhtar Ahmad In Srinagar

January 09, 2009 02:14 IST Last Updated: January 09, 2009 12:58 IST Source: Rediff The nine-day-long gun battle in the Bhatidar forest area of Poonch district has officially been called off even though deliberate searches shall continue in the area "to look for any tell-tale signs there". So far, two Army troopers, one special police officer (SPO) and four militants have been killed in this operation against the militants. But the bodies of the slain militants have not yet been recovered. Having spilled over more than nine days, this is the longest operation carried out by the Army against the militants ever since the present violence started here in 1989. "The possibility of the terrorists having slipped out taking advantage of the rugged terrain and the prevailing climatic conditions cannot be ruled out," said the statement issued Friday by the Indian army's [ Images ] 16 th Corps whose trooped engaged the militants for nine days in the Bhatidar f

Threat from sea looms large: IB Vicky Nanjappa

January 09, 2009 14:46 IST Source: Rediff.com The threat from the sea continues to loom large over the country and the attacks on Mumbai , where the terrorists arrived in the city on a boat, is just a beginning. According to intelligence agencies, nearly 1,200 islands surrounding the country are vulnerable to terrorists. This has been confirmed by two suspected militants in the Karnataka police's custody. Tausif and Firoze -- picked up recently for their alleged connection with Riyaz Bhatkal, the Lashkar-e-Tayiba [ Images ] terrorist -- told the police that Bhatkal had told them that the Lashkar wants to convert the coastal belts into terror bastions. The islands, which are said to be on the radar of the Lashkar and its terror twin, the Jaish-e-Mohammad, are located around Kerala [ Images ] , some of the Andaman and Nicobar islands, Purbasha island near Bangladesh, the Lakshwadeep islands and the coastal belts of Karnataka. Intelligence Bureau officers told rediff.com that