The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Thursday, October 25, 2001, Chandigarh, India

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Bodies of Pak ultras sent home
22 Harkat men killed in US bombing

Peshawar (Pakistan), October 24
The bodies of eight Pakistani Muslim militants killed in overnight bombing raids on the Afghan capital of Kabul were returned to Pakistan today.

Earlier, Pakistan’s border authorities had refused to allow them entry, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) agency said. The victims were among 22 activists of the Pakistan-based Harkatul Mujahedin (HM) reported killed in US bombing raids.

An HM leader, Maulana Mohammad Akbar, received the bodies in Mohmmand agency bordering Afghanistan’s Kunar province.

After permission was refused at Torkham, the main border crossing point between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the cortege bearing the bodies headed for Kunar.

Kunar borders Pakistan’s Mohmand tribal area where the bodies reached after a trek through illegal hidden routes in a mountainous terrain.

Among the eight HM militants, two belonged to Kashmir. In the port city of Karachi the police fired teargas shells to disperse a mob gathered to protest the militants’ killing. Another leader of the group, Ustad Muzammil Shah, said the bodies of other HM activists had been mutilated beyond recognition. Senior HM leader Ustad Mohammad Farooq was among the 22 militants killed, said.

A Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman expressed ignorance about Pakistanis being killed in Afghanistan during the US led air raids.

More than 3,000 supporters of the militant Harakat-ul-Mujahideen took to the streets to show their anger. Members of other groups, including the extremist Jaish-e-Mohammad and Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam, joined the protest.

Demonstrators raised slogans attacking Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for his support for the US strikes on Afghanistan and hurled stones at the police, which retaliated with teargas, witnesses said.

It is the second time that the Harkat has lost men in US attacks on Afghanistan. Nine fighters were killed and several wounded in cruise missile attacks by the USA on a training camp in the eastern Khost area of Afghanistan in August 1998. DPA

Four Harkat militants held in Mumbai

Four members of Harkat-ul- Mujahideen who had planned to trigger a series of explosions in Thane and Mumbai were arrested at Mumbra in Thane district on Wednesday. — PTI photo

Thane, October 24
The police claims to have foiled an attempt by the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen to trigger a series of explosions in Thane and Mumbai and eliminate key politicians with the arrest of four members of the militant outfit at Mumbra in the district early today.

Three revolvers, 26 live cartridges, incriminating documents and a “Mumbai guide” were recovered from the ultras, city Police Commissioner S.M. Shangari told reporters.

Mr Shangari said the militants, hailing from Baramulla in Kashmir, had planned to let loose a reign of terror by resorting to explosions in crowded places and eliminating prominent political leaders.

The militants, identified as Javed, alias Java Ahmed Mohammad Akbar Bhat (23), Farooq Ahmed Mohammad Sidiqui (23), Altaf Hussain Gulam Mohideen Bhat (19) and Farooq Ahmed Mohammad Ramzan Soban (28), had been hiding in Mumbra for over two weeks, the police commissioner said.

Sohan was involved in a number of murders in Kashmir and had fled the place carrying a revolver and a walkie talkie. He was closely associated with the “jehad” movement, Mr Shangari said, adding that the police and the Army had launched a manhunt for him.

Javed knew the route from Baramulla to Pakistan and was mainly involved in guiding militants along the route and also imparting training in the use of arms, Mr Shangari said. PTI