Shahzada, 50, mother of Adil Hussian Thoker of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant outfit, lost her home after it was razed down by security forces, a day after police named him as a key local Kashmiri who helped two of his associates from Pakistan to carry out the targeted attack on the tourists at Baisaran in south Kashmir라이브 바카라 Pahalgam that resulted in the death of 26 people. In the attack, 24 tourists, a Kashmiri civilian and one Nepali citizen were killed.
Shahzada and her local neighbours said that the family lived in the house even before her son became a militant eight years ago. When he left home, he said he was going to attend an exam, but never returned.
“I have nowhere to go, I have lost everything,” said Shahzada, breaking down over the sight of her home. Three other houses also suffered damage in the blast in the neighbourhood, which was carried out with security forces putting up a tight cordon around the area.
Elsewhere, in a related incident, the house of Asif Shiekh, another militant, was also razed down during the midnight raid, as part of the on-going anti-militancy operations in Kashmir, which have stepped up since the Pahalgam attack.
Last night, security forces also brought down a few more houses to step up action against the militants.
At a distance of over one hour, in Manghama area of Tral town, the house of Shiekh has also been reduced to a pile of concrete. The family said that they had lost contact with Shiekh since he joined militancy three years ago. Yasmeen Akhtar, sister of the militant, said that the security forces have questioned them about Shiekh and whether they were in touch with him.
The security measures came a day after the Jammu and Kashmir police released the sketches of the three militants who it alleged were behind the targeted attack on the tourists in Pahalgam.
According to police sources, besides Adil, a resident of Anantnag, two other LeT militants, a Pakistani national, Ali Bhai alias Talha Bhai, and
Hashim Musa alias Suleiman were behind the attack at Baisaran. The sketches were released yesterday by the Anantnag police on its social media handles while the tight security cordon remained in place in Baisaran in pursuit of the militants. Security forces―who were part of the operations on the ground―said that besides over 15,000 troops, helicopters were also pressed into service to track down the militants.
The police cordon was set up immediately after the Pahalgam police station received information that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had reached Srinagar within hours of the attack. Local security officials said that they launched a quick cordon around the Baisaran meadow after the attack.
