SRINAGAR, 3 December 2006 — The Indian Army late Friday evening claimed to have eliminated the mastermind responsible for last year’s Diwali eve blasts in New Delhi that killed 55 people and wounded 155 others
“Ali Baba alias Abu Huzefa was killed after a sustained gunbattle at Kreeri in Baramulla district in a well coordinated operation,” a defense spokesman said yesterday evening.
“Troops of 29 RR (Rashtriya Rifles) launched a swift and surgical operation following information that Ali Baba had been hiding in the Kreeri area. He was cornered in a nallah resulting in a sustained gunbattle at the end of which the militant was killed,” Col. A.K. Mathur said.
“It was a planned and swift operation without causing any collateral damage to civilian life or property,” he added. “Ali Baba who was a self-styled deputy divisional commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba had been responsible for planning the serial bombings in New Delhi on Diwali eve last year,” he said.
He added, “The dreaded terrorist who was a resident of Sindh in Pakistan had been active in the north Kashmir areas of Pattan and Sopore for the past two years and had escaped security force dragnets a number of times.”
This is the second major success for the Indian security forces who are engaged in counterinsurgency operations in Kashmir. Early this week the security forces had gunned down the south Kashmir commander of another outfit, Hizbul Mujahedeen after a fierce gunbattle in south Kashmir’s Bejibehara town.
14 Killed as Bus Plunges Into Ravine
At least 14 people were killed and 29 others injured yesterday when a passenger bus toppled into a deep ravine in the mountainous Indian resort state of Himachal Pradesh, police said.
The bus carrying 50 passengers skidded off a hilly road and hurtled down the 600-foot (181-meter) deep ravine near the well-known town area of Solan, 48 kilometers (30 miles) from the state capital Shimla, officials said.
