Author: Mohit Kandhari
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: November 6, 2006
First Hizb men kill woman, then they shoot
dead four of her family
Six weeks after a class 12 student, Shamima
Akhter, was strangulated to death by local militants after she refused to
marry Hizbul Mujahideen militant Manzoor Ahmad alias Furkan, the same group
of militants attacked her house late Saturday evening in Manglogi village
in Udhampur district killing four other members of her family in cold blood.
After committing the gruesome murders, the
suspected militants escaped without being challenged by the nearby security
picket.
According to police, militants struck around
10.30 pm on Saturday night just when all the family members were preparing
to go to sleep. Militants pumped more than one dozen bullets killing 55-year-old
farmer Ahad Bhat, father of Shamima, his wife Fatima (50), daughter Mobina
(25) and niece Shahida (30).
A senior police officer from Gool police station,
who visited the spot, told The Pioneer over telephone that 12 empty cases
of bullets were recovered from inside the house of Ahad Bhat. All four deceased
had been shot in their abdomen and chest. The killings have unnerved the local
people even though there is a security picket in the area.
Ramban Senior Superintendent of Police Basant
K Rath told The Pioneer, "local militants belonging to Hizbul Mujahideen
were annoyed with Ahad Bhat ever since he solemnised the court marriage of
his youngest daughter with Farooq Ahmed, on September 18, 2006 against their
wishes".
Three days after her marriage, Shamima was
kidnapped and then killed on September 21 by local militants belonging to
Hizbul Mujahideen when she was returning from Government Higher Secondary
School, Sangaldhan.
Police recovered her body on September 24
from Surenda village in Gool. She had been strangled to avenge her refusal
of the marriage proposal.
"We are further investigating the reasons
behind the provocation, and a police team is visiting the village," the
SP added.
Security forces in the area have launched
a massive search and cordon operations to nab the culprits. No militant group
has so far claimed responsibility for the murders.
In another incident, acting on a tip-off,
security forces killed two suspected militants, believed to be Pak nationals
and members of the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba in Doda district on Saturday night.
"The LeT militants have been identified
as Mohd Ahmed alias Abu Furkan and Mohd Irfan alias Abu Abdulla," a police
officer said. The militants were trapped in their hideout by a joint team
of security forces and killed in a fierce gunfight. A huge cache of arms and
ammunition was also seized by security forces.
