The one escape the artist couldnt pull off

The police also drew on recent experience. On August 19,after the police had received a tip-off that Ooni was in a house in Dangerpora on Sopores outskirts,they encircled the area but Ooni jumped out of a window and escaped,SP Mir said. This time,too,Ooni jumped out of the window in his in-laws house,but this time the police were expecting it.

They now admit there was no other way they could have got the elusive Ooni,27,who had made a reputation as an escape artist and who,they say,had revived the Lashkar network in Sopore after the area had been declared militancy-free in 2008.

All our hopes were pinned on his visiting his in-laws house to see his wife and child. We relied on human instinct because nothing else was going to work, SP Mir said.

He described how difficult it had been: This man never used a phone. He would talk through VOIP,go on Skype. We knew we couldnt intercept his calls,so we kept him under human surveillance. We had to be patient. I was myself following his movements.

The cat-and-mouse game had lasted two months,the final round in a search that Ooni had been thwarting for six years. Police say Ooni had gone to Lolab in Kupwara district to receive a group of new infiltrators,and was there in mid-July when five of Lashkars top commanders were killed in an encounter.

We knew he would come back to Sopore to meet his wife. We expected him to come sometime after Eid. He came once earlier but avoided visiting his wife then, Mir said.

A major operation to get Ooni failed in August. We knew he was around and we were apprehensive that he would organise an attack on our function at the Dak Bungalow on August 15. So we cordoned off Brath and Model Town. He escaped. We had encircled him but he sneaked out of the cordon disguised as a civilian, Mir said.

When he was encircled,he would not fire. He would dump his weapon,mingle with civilians and escape. Mir said Ooni had several identity cards. He would pass himself off as a labourer from Bihar working here.

Three days after his escape on August 19,when he jumped out of a window,the police say they saw him on a motorcycle. On August 22,we spotted him on a black Splendor motorbike near Shahkar Cinema. He sped off. He was wearing a helmet and we were not cent per cent sure it was him. We didnt open fire.

In the last week of Ramzan,the police decided on a unilateral ceasefire with plans to restart operations after Eid,Mir said. On Eid,Ooni and another Pakistani militant were seen in a congregation in the town,waving Lashkar flags. We couldnt do anything because there were people around, Mir said.

We kept following him; we wanted to keep him on the run. We launched an operation in Rebban where we had heard he was hiding. We were late by 20 minutes and he had already left on the same Splendor, Mir said. We spotted him in Naseerabad. Two women in burqas were riding pillion. He escaped through a narrow lane. Our Rakshak jeep couldnt enter that line.

Finally,Mir said,Ooni came to visit his wife. The window was open but we decided against a night operation. We waited till the morning and surprised him. He jumped out of the window but this time we were ready.

Even after killing him on Tuesday,the police initially hesitated to announce it. Only after Tabassum confirmed her husbands identity did they do so.