Militants sneak into Samba, kill six before being gunned down

SAMBA, MAY 11 Striking in a big way as Jammu and Kashmir gears for the Amarnath Yatra and the approaching Assembly elections, heavily armed militants, clad in Army fatigues, sneaked into a residential colony in Samba today and killed six persons, including a local politician, his wife and the chief photographer of the Daily Excelsior. The firefight with security forces ended more than 12 hours later when two militants, holed up inside a house, were gunned down.

Troops rescued five of the six persons who had been taken hostage. A woman hostage died of injuries from militant fire as did two jawans. At least 12 persons were injured, among them SP (Operation) Mubasar Latifi, an Army Major, a police inspector, two jawans and a TV cameraman.

Though the identity of the militants has not yet been established, an official said they were suspected to be from the Lashkar-e-Toiba based in Pakistan.

The attack came two days after the BSF claimed to have foiled an infiltration bid from across the international border. It is suspected that the two militants were part of the same group who had engaged the BSF after snipping the barbed wire fencing along the border. On Saturday, troops and police had seized 10 kg of RDX and ammunition in huge quantity from the forests of Raya Suchaini in Samba.