A sarpanch was killed by terrorists about a month ago in Goshbug area of Pattan in Baramulla district of North Kashmir. Today on Monday, the Budgam Police claimed that they have arrested all the three Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists involved in the murder along with their associates. A huge cache of arms and ammunition have also been recovered from the arrested terrorists.
A police officer probing the killing of the sarpanch said that on April 15, the terrorists killed Manzoor Ahmad Bangru, the sarpanch of Goshbug. After the murder, the police were looking for the killers. During the same investigation, he got information about three suspects who have been involved in terrorist activities. Based on the information, the three suspects Noor Mohammad Yatu son Ghulam Hassan Yatu, Mohammad Rafiq Pare son Mohammad Akbar Pare and Ashiq Hussain Pare son Abdul Rehman Pare were arrested. All three were residents of Goshbug Pattan.
On interrogation, the trio told that they were in touch with Mohammad Afzal Lone, a member of the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba. Lone is currently in judicial custody. Lone had instructed Noor Mohammad Yatu to inspire two men from his area to join terrorist ranks. He contacted Mohammad Rafiq Pare and Ashiq Hussain Pare, both residents of Goshbug, and persuaded them to join Lashkar.
After joining the organization Yatu asked both of them to personally meet Lone along with his brother-in-law Mehraj-ud-din Dar son Sona Ullah Dar resident goon Jehangir Hajin Bandipora. The trio met Lone and during that time they were assigned the task of target killing. The police officer said that the three were given different tasks. After a few days Lone sent arms and ammunition (two pistols, two grenades and two magazines) to Yatu through Mehrajuddin Dar for Rafiq Pare and Aashiq Pare. They were instructed to kill the politicians living in the area, especially the sarpanches of the Pattan area.
Let us tell you that the police had arrested Lone and his other three associates in Palhalan grenade blast case. The implementation of the plan was delayed due to the arrest of Lone. Meanwhile, two local terrorists Umar Lone and Gulzar Ghani, who had recently infiltrated from (Pakistan) after undergoing arms and ammunition training, approached the trio and asked them about the plan. He assigned them the task of killing the sarpanches.
The conspirators set a target and tracked down Sarpanch Manzoor Ahmad Bangru and fixed a specific date for his murder. That day Aashiq spoke to terrorist Umar Lone through Facebook Messenger and informed him about the plan. After this the terrorists killed the sarpanch in Chandrahama Pattan on 15 April.
In further interrogation, Yatu revealed that he had given weapons to Umar Lone. He still has many weapons and rounds. All these items are in a sealed box in his house. Police team reached the spot and they confiscated the weapons. Police said that so far 3 pistols, 2 grenades, 3 magazines and 32 bullets have been recovered in this case.