Jammu and Kashmir Timeline - 2008

January 2	The Principal Sessions Judge of Jammu, J. R. Kotwal, convicted and sentenced an Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, trained militant, Raja Muzaffar Ahmed, to undergo 18 years imprisonment.
January 5	Two soldiers and two militants were killed and two soldiers wounded following a night long encounter between the two sides at Awantipora in the Pulwama district. A top Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) ‘commander’, Abu Muslim, was found dead at Seeldhar in the Gool area of Ramban district. While local people claimed that the militant had died due to illness, official sources said an exact reason is yet to be ascertained.
January 12	Troops cordoned the house of one Mangta Bhat at village Bikhrain under the jurisdiction of Doda police station and shot dead two top Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants who had taken shelter in the house. The slain cadres were identified as Altaf Hussain and Irshad Ahmed. A LeT militant, identified as Farooq Ahmed Bhat, was killed by troops in the Bhagwah area of Doda district. Bhat was a ‘B’ grade militant active in Doda district since 2003.
January 14	Three militants, including two Pakistanis, are believed to have been killed in an encounter with the troops at Manzgam in the Kulgam district. The slain militants were identified as Osman alias Chacha of Pakistan and Parvaiz Ahmad Wani alias Saqib, a resident of Shopian district. Troops killed two LeT militants during separate encounters in the Shonsh and Banshal areas of Doda district. Senior separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah formally joined the secessionist conglomerate the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC). Shah announced his decision in the presence of APHC chairman, Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, at the martyrs’ graveyard at Idgah in capital Srinagar.
January 15	Troops of the Rashtriya Rifles and police killed two unidentified militants at Chak Banola in the Mendhar sub-division of Poonch district. Security forces killed Abu Kital alias Abu Hamza, ‘district commander’ of the LeT, in an encounter in the Bandipora district.
January 21	All the three holed up militants of the LeT were killed by the SFs at the residence of two activists of the ruling People’s Democratic Party at Mandigam village in the Handwara area of Kupwara district in a 30-hour-long gun-battle. LeT spokesman Abdullah Ghaznavi identified the slain militants as Abdullah Gauri, Abu Issa and Abu Faidullah. SFs killed two more militants of the Lashkar-e-Toiba in a gun-battle at Alyalpora village in Shopian district. They were identified as ‘battalion commander’ Tahir-ul-Islam and Mohammad Hanief Dar. A Special Police Officer, Mohammad Ashraf Khan, and an unidentified militant were killed in the Handwara town.
January 22	Apprehending a crackdown 20 years after he sneaked into Pakistan, the HM ‘commander-in-chief’, Syed Salahuddin, said that authorities in Islamabad cannot arrest him. "Pakistan cannot arrest me. I live on my own soil," said the United Jihad Council (UGC) chief in an interview posted on the Pakistan occupied Kashmir Website. Salahuddin, who ex-filtrated to Pakistan 20 years ago after his defeat in elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in 1987, did not give reasons why he apprehended his arrest. "We are not terrorists according to United Nations law," UJC leader claimed.
January 23	Two Army soldiers and a militant were killed and four soldiers, including a Major, were injured in an encounter near Munawar Tawi between Sunderbani and Akhnoor sector in the Rajouri district. Bharat Bhushan, a Village Defence Committee member, was abducted and subsequently killed by LeT militants in the Doda district. All the separatist and militant groups in Jammu and Kashmir have called for a general strike on January 26 and to observe the Republic day as "black day", while security arrangements have been tightened ahead of the occasion across the State.
January 24	A female militant of the LeT outfit, active for the last three years, was arrested by the Doda police. She was stated to be very close to LeT ‘divisional commander’, Shabir Ittoo, and actively worked for the outfit in Doda and its adjoining localities. Senior Superintendent of Police, Manohar Singh, while confirming the arrest said 23-year-old Samrina Bano, daughter of Ghulam Nabi Shah of Doda, was undergoing nurse training at the Health Department in Doda.
January 25	Bashir Ahmed Mir, the HuJI ‘commander-in-chief’ for operations across India was shot dead by police in the Doda district. Operating under the code-name "Hijazi," Pakistan-trained Mir is believed to have ordered a string of strikes across north and south-east India in 2007, including the court complex bombings in Uttar Pradesh, the bombing of the Ajmer Sharif shrine in Rajasthan, and the multiple bombings which took place in Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh.
January 30	With the killing of four militants of HM, including a ‘District Commander’, senior officials of Jammu and Kashmir declared the Kulgam district of south Kashmir as a "militancy-free zone". Inspector General of Police (Kashmir Zone), Shiv Morari Sahai, held a press conference at Bijbehara to declare the Kulgam-Arwani belt as a militancy-free area. He said that the security forces had laid siege to a cluster of residential houses at Batpora, near Arwani, and began search for a group of militants hiding in the locality. Four Kashmiri militants of the HM group were hiding at the house of one Mohammad Maqbool Malik. In the ensuing encounter, all the four holed up militants, identified as ‘district commander’ Sajjad Ahmed Bhat alias Tahir Maqsood, Firdaus Ahmed Wani alias Naseer, Javed Ahmed alias Weqas and Farooq Ahmed War alias Huzaib, were killed. Two AK-56 rifles were recovered from the incident site. The Inspector General of Police claimed that this group of militants was the last available evidence of militants in the Kulgam-Yaripora-Arwani belt. However, some of his juniors said that two more HM militants, Basharat and Shahid, were yet to be killed or arrested in the Kulgam area. They asserted that group like the LeT and JeM, had already been completely wiped out by police and security forces with the elimination of all listed militants in Kulgam area in the last one year. Four militant groups- the Al-Nasireen, Al-Arifeen, Al-Ishtaqlal and Al-Haq- have formed a joint platform called the Mutahida Mahaz Council (MMC) and announced to run a election boycott campaign under it. In a statement to a local news agency, Haji Barkatullah, joint spokesman of the militant groups, has said that he is the chairman of MMC. "Any action in Kashmir will not depend upon the statement of Hurriyat Conference or United Jihad Council. A decision about the actions will be taken by those militants who are active on ground as these very people are risking their lives fighting for the freedom movement. Therefore, we reject the statements of others and announce the election boycott campaign," he said.
February 1	Four unidentified militants were killed by SF personnel during an encounter in their hideout at Drusoo Jagir area of Rafiabad in the Baramulla district. One ‘battalion commander’ of the HM outfit, identified as Rahool Bhat, was shot dead by police personnel during another encounter at Tangbal under Yaripora police station in the Kulgam district.
February 2	Three top LeT militants, belonging to Pakistan, and two police personnel, including a constable and a Special Police Officer, were killed while soldier was injured as security forces foiled an infiltration attempt on Line of Control in the Ghani forests of Mendhar sector in Poonch district. The operation was still on till the reports last came in.
February 5	SFs shot dead two suspected LeT militants in an encounter at Bindi Gala, about three kilometers inside the Line of Control in the Sunderbani sector of Rajouri district.
February 7	A top militant of the LeT, identified as Showkat Ali alias Abu Haroon (set code Victor 6), surrendered before the Special Operations Group (SOG) Jammu.
February 8	Three top LeT militants, suspected to be part of a group of seven infiltrators which had sneaked into the Indian side from Mendhar sector on February 2, were killed by the troops in an encounter at Kasbrari in the Poonch district. Three others had been killed on February 2.
February 10	Hanief Khan, a ‘Divisional Commander’ of the HM, was among the two militants killed in a gun-battle with the SFs in the Noorpora village of Pulwama district. His accomplice was identified as Javed Ahmad Malik alias Mussaub-ul-Islam. Deputy Inspector General of Police (South Kashmir), Hemant Kumar Lohia, said that Hanief Khan was ‘Divisional Commander’ in south Kashmir and he was simultaneously operating as the organisation's ‘Financial Chief’ in Jammu and Kashmir. According to officials, Khan was involved in about 20 killings since 1990. According to a statement from the Hizb spokesman, Ehsan Illahi, HM chief Syed Salahuddin has immediately appointed Gazi Rafi-ud-din as the organisation's new ‘Divisional Commander’ for south Kashmir. A ‘commander’ of the HuM, Mohammad Fareed Achakzai alias Usman of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, was killed in an encounter with the SFs in the Sopore area of Baramulla district.
February 11	Two HM militants, including a self-styled commander of the outfit, were killed in a gun-battle with the SFs in the Pattan area of Baramulla district. The slain militants were identified as ‘district commander’ Zahoor Ahmad Ganai a.k.a. Firdous and Nazir Ahmed Parry. The toll of militants in the Kashmir Valley has decreased and presently it is less than thousand which is the lowest since inception of militancy, according to the CRPF. "According to our intelligence inputs, present number of militants in the Valley is 450," M. S. Gupta, the Inspector General (Operations) of CRPF said. Gupta said the inclusion of local youth in militancy has also decreased up to minimum. "This year the local recruitment in militancy was very minimal, 30 – 40 in entire Valley", he stated.
February 12	SF personnel shot dead three LeT militants in an encounter at village Sarhuti under the jurisdiction of Mendhar police station in the Poonch district. A fourth militant, however, is reported to have escaped from the incident site. With this, nine militants, including six infiltrators, have been killed in the past one week in Mendhar sector.
February 15	A top Pakistani militant of the LeT outfit involved in the November 23, 2007 bomb blasts in various courts across Uttar Pradesh was killed along with his associate in an encounter with police in the Pulwama district. Self-styled district commander Abdul Rahman alias Rehman Bhai, a Pakistani, and a local militant Moin Ahmed Mir were killed at Niloora-Aglar village. Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda told reporters that the slain LeT commander was involved in the November 23 blasts in Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow courts in which 13 civilians were killed.
February 17	The BSF personnel killed two infiltrators on the international border at Makwal sector along Niki Tawi area in the Jammu district.
February 20	The para-military CRPF said that around 700 to 800 militants are still active in the Kashmir valley. CRPF Inspector General S.K Jain told reporters that "According to our information based on intelligence inputs, around 700 to 800 militants are active in the valley." He also said that the violence level has drastically declined in the valley.
February 21	In a joint operation, the Jammu and Kashmir Police and Army killed three militants of the JeM outfit in the dense forest area of Batnar Kooligam in the snowbound Lolab valley region of Kupwara district.
February 22	Troops foiled a major infiltration bid when they shot dead two heavily armed militants who had infiltrated into the Indian side taking advantage of heavy snowfall at Rattapar Nar in the Keran sector of Kupwara district.
February 27	Two CRPF constables were shot dead by militants who ambushed a patrol party at Boonamaha village in the Pulwama district. The Union Government said that terrorist incidents in Jammu and Kashmir had registered a decline during the last two years. Minister of State for Home Shriprakash Jaiswal stated in the parliament that in 2006, Jammu and Kashmir witnessed 1667 terrorism-related incidents, which came down to 1092 in 2007.
February 29	SFs killed four militants of the HM in an encounter at Saidpora in the Shopian district. They were identified as Sayyar Ahmed Thokar and Riyaz Ahmed Thokar alias Abu Jihad, Sayyar Ahmed Bhat and Mohammad Iqbal, were killed.
March 2	Two Al-Badr militants, identified as district commander Janabaz Ahmed Khan, a Pakistani national, and Imtiyaz Ahmed Dar, were killed in an encounter with the SFs in the Chewdara area of Budgam district.
March 3	The BSF foiled an intrusion bid by killing a Pakistani intruder in the Akhnoor sector. An identity card recovered from the possession disclosed his identity as Sayeed Shahani Raja of Chherawali village of Gujranwala district in Pakistan.
March 4	Two persons, identified as Abdul Hamid and Jana, were killed and five others sustained injuries when a grenade exploded in a house in the Shopian area of Pulwama district.
March 5	SFs killed a holed up militant in the overnight operation at Chitti Bandi in the Bandipora district. One militant had died in the initial round of firing and another was trapped inside a residential house. Sources said that troops destroyed the target hideout, killing the holed up militant. Official sources said that one of the two slain militants was identified as Abu Abdullah alias Mohammad Saleem, a Pakistani national. They stated that both the militants belonged to the LeT. A defence spokesman stated that both the militants were killed at a time when they were planning a strike on the former counter-insurgent and current legislator from Bandipora, Usman Majeed. SFs killed two unidentified militants during an encounter on a snowbound track between Peth Wudar and Mooldari, Bangus, in the Handwara district.
March 6	Three members of a VDC member’s family, including his father and two minor daughters, were killed while the VDC member himself, Mushtaq Ahmed, was injured along with four other family members in a suspected grenade attack on his house at remote Soni Top in the Handar village of Reasi district.
March 7	The police unearthed a Hawala racket supplying money to the LeT operatives in the Kandi and Buddal areas of Rajouri district. The Police conducted series of raids in the Kandi area and arrested Zulfikar, brother of a slain HM militant Abdul Qayoom, who died in July 2007, and Muhammad Qadir of Larkuti, while they were purchasing shoes and other food items for militants operating in the area.
March 9	Mohammed Qasim alias Babbar, a HM ‘commander’ involved in a series of killings and other subversive activity, was killed by the SFs during an encounter at Chatroo in the Kishtwar district.
March 16	SFs killed Hafiz Naasir, one of the most wanted militants and the Kashmir valley chief of the LeT, in an encounter at village Chatlura near Sopore town in the Baramulla district. Lt. Col. M. S. Kadam, the officiating Commanding Officer of Rashtriya Rifles (22 Battalion), and another soldier, identified as Pradeep Kumar, are reported to have died and four SF personnel injured in the encounter. Hafiz Naasir, a Pakistani militant, had been appointed sometime in 2007 as LeT operational chief in Kashmir after working in the Valley for about ten years. Deputy Inspector General of Police (north Kashmir), Dr. B Srinivas, described Naasir as the most wanted militant in the Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara districts.
March 18	Security forces shot dead Jehangir Ahmed Bhat alias Chhota Jehangir, the HM’s Anantnag ‘District Commander’, in a joint operation at Dogripora in the Awantipore area of Pulwama district.
March 19	The Doda district police and Army shot dead four militants of the LeT outfit, including a ‘district commander’, in an encounter at Gwari Shah under the jurisdiction of Gandoh police station. Two police personnel sustained injuries in the operation. The slain militants were identified as ‘district commander’ Imtiaz Hussain alias Abu Turab, Sadam Hussain, Suraf Nawaz alias Mehnaz and Sagir Ahmed of Pakistan. One person was killed and 16 sustained injuries when the HM attempted to blow up a part of the only flyover in the capital Srinagar with an IED blast. The HM chief and chairman of the United Jihad Council (UJC), Syed Salahuddin, has said Pakistan could not stop supporting the Kashmiri militant groups. He admitted that Pakistan has continuously been providing both military as well as political support to the Kashmiri militants.
March 20	Muneer Ahmed Lali, a ‘battalion commander’ of the HM, was killed by the security forces at village Bazipora Ajas in the Bandipora district
March 21	Two children, Mohammad Afzal and Akram Ashraf, were killed in a grenade explosion in the Gawari area of Doda district. Police said that some unidentified militants lobbed a grenade near a house at Gawari village leading to the death of two boys who were playing near their house. Police sources added that the militants lobbed the grenade to avenge the killing of four LeT militants in the same area. Police in Handwara arrested a militant, identified as Nazir Ahmad, responsible for bringing money from Pakistan for the HuM in north Kashmir.
March 23	Three police personnel and a CRPF constable died in an encounter with militants on the outskirts of capital Srinagar in which they succeeded in killing Abu Faisal of Pakistan, a ‘divisional commander’ of the LeT.
March 25	Bahar Din alias Zulfa, an ‘area commander’ of the HM outfit, was shot dead by the SFs in an encounter at village Moori in the Mahore area of Reasi district. He was operating in the Gool-Gulabgarh-Mahore belt for more than a decade.
March 27	Troops of the Rashtriya Rifle killed a militant in an encounter at Kota Satri forest area in the Bandipora area of Baramulla district. Another militant was shot dead by the troops at Keran in the Kupwara district.
April 1	Four persons, including two top commanders of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and an Army soldier, were killed at Dudu Mirhama in the Anantnag district. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Nitish Kumar, said the slain commanders were identified as ‘divisional commander’ Aslam Khan alias Zia-ur-Rehman and ‘district commander’ Javaid Ahmad Lone alias Nazar.
April 1	Four persons, including two top commanders of the HM and an Army soldier, were killed at Dudu Mirhama in the Anantnag district. Senior SSP, Nitish Kumar, said the slain commanders were identified as ‘divisional commander’ Aslam Khan alias Zia-ur-Rehman and ‘district commander’ Javaid Ahmad Lone alias Nazar. In the encounter, Vijay Kumar of the Rashtriya Rifles and owner of the house, where the militants were hiding, Abdul Rashid Khan, were also killed, the SSP said, adding that Abdul Rashid Khan was an over-ground worker of the HM. Militants attacked the house of a ruling PDP leader in the Sopore town of Baramulla district though no one was hurt in the incident.
April 2	SFs killed two militants of the JeM outfit, identified as Abu Hussain alias Saifullah and Abu Omar, both Pakistani nationals, during an operation at Arin Dardpora in the Bandipora district. Inspector General of Police (Kashmir Zone), S. M. Sahai, informed the media in Handwara that Police had arrested four top wanted militants of the HM. He said that ‘district commander’ Mushtaq Ahmed Malla alias Furqan was arrested over a specific information. Malla had reportedly been operating as a militant since 1990. His sustained interrogation led to the subsequent arrest of his successor ‘district commander’ Mudassar Shabir Ganai alias Ali alias Illyas, his close associate and HM ‘Financial Chief-cum-Launching Commander’ Nisar Abdullah Malik and ‘area commander’ Pervez Ahmed Wani alias Mubashir alias Saifullah.
April 3	The Handwara Police arrested Junaid-ul-Islam, the Kashmir-based spokesman of HM, from the neighbourhood of Jammu and Kashmir Police headquarters in the Karan Nagar area of capital Srinagar. The Deputy Inspector General of Police, Dr B Srinivas, informed a press conference that Handwara Police conducted a raid in Srinagar and arrested HM ‘chief spokesman’ Abdul Khaliq Dar a.k.a. Junaid-ul-Islam a.k.a. Khalil-ur-Rehman a.k.a. Fazal-ur-Rehman early in the morning. According to Police records, Junaid-ul-Islam had crossed the Line of Control in 1990 to undergo training in guerrilla warfare at a HM camp in the PoK. He underwent training and later also handled training camps for fresh recruits and trainee HM militants. He was an ideologue and was also known for writing articles and his reactions to the articles of other authors in local newspapers, particularly in the Urdu weekly Chattan.
April 4	Militants killed both the constables of Police Station Sogam who had been abducted at Surigam in the Kupwara district a day earlier. Deputy Inspector General of Police, Dr B. Srinivas, said that dead bodies of the two constables, Tariq Ahmad Bhat and Nazir Ahmad Dar, were recovered from Gujar Patti. Police also said that the Imran Group of Al-Badr Mujahideen had kidnapped and later killed the constables.
April 6	Leaders of several militant groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir met in the Rawalpindi city of Pakistan and vowed to continue their jihad. The meeting, organised by the Pakistan-based Al-Badr Mujahideen at a mosque in Rawalpindi, was addressed by UJC and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen HM chief Syed Salahuddin, Al-Badr chief Bakht Zameen Khan and leaders of the LeT, Hizbi Islami-Kashmir and other jihadi groups. "The continuation of the jihad in Kashmir is linked with the survival of Pakistan," Salahuddin told the 500-strong gathering.
April 8	Two militants of the HM outfit, including a ‘divisional commander’, were killed by police during two separate encounters in the Doda and Kishtwar districts. The slain militants were identified as Ghulam Hussain Wani (code name Shameem Thool) alias Shameem Shahid, a ‘divisional commander’ of the outfit, and Mohammed Iqbal alias Haq Nawaz.
April 9	The SFs killed four militants of the HM outfit in an encounter in the Ghulabgarh area of Reasi district. They were identified as ‘area commander’ Mohammed Shafi alias Badshah Khan a.k.a. Gazi, Mohammed Rafiq alias Basharat, Talib Hussain and Munabar, all from the HM outfit. SFs shot dead three militants, including a Pakistan national, in the Lolab area of Kupwara district. Three more militants of the group, however, managed to escape from the incident site. One of the slain militants has been identified as Ali Bhai, a ‘company commander’ of the Al-Badr Mujahideen, who, official sources said, was responsible for the killing of two constables in Kupwara on April 4. The Doda Police killed a militant, identified as Javed Iqbal Bhat, near Gandoh. Nearly one hundred militants are believed to have infiltrated into the Gurez and Lolab valley in Bandipora-Kupwara belt in the last five weeks. Official sources said that six to eight groups of militants - with as many as 10 to 20 militants in each group - have successfully crossed the Line of Control (LoC) and landed in the Gurez and Lolab valley in Bandipora and Kupwara districts of Kashmir valley since March 1, 2008.
April 12	The SFs in an encounter killed a ‘district commander’ of the LeT, identified as Shabir Ahmad Bhat alias Mansoor, at Peer Mohalla in the Chakura village of Pulwama district.
April 14	SFs killed a ‘district commander’ of the LeT in an encounter in the Harwan area of Srinagar. He was identified as Zakaria, a Pakistani militant.
April 19	The SFs in a day long gun battle killed four heavily armed militants in the Rang forest area, about 6-km ahead of Warnow in the Kupwara district. Three of the slain militants, residents of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, were identified as Amjad Bhai, Abu Saifullah and Irshad Ahmed. While Amjad Bhai was a top wanted ‘district commander’ of the JeM who had been operating in the Lolab area for the last six years, Abu Saifullah and Arshad were both LeT cadres.
April 23	Two HM ‘commanders’ in north Kashmir -Tanvir Ahmed Zargar and Imtiyaz Ahmed Khan – were killed by the SFs in a 12-hour-long gun-battle in the outskirts of Baramulla town. A constable of the Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police, Mushtaq Ahmed Fafoo, and a civilian, Ghulam Qadir Mir, were wounded in the incident. The Reasi district police killed a ‘battalion commander’ and ‘financial chief" of the HM outfit, identified as Abdul Haq alias Jahangir, in an encounter at village Kallian. Senior Superintendent of Police, J. L. Sharma, stated that he was the longest surviving militant in Reasi district and was operating since 1993.
April 24	Following a six-hour long encounter, two HM militants were killed at Zachaldara in the Handwara area of Kupwara district. They were identified as Ghulam Mohi-ud-din Bhat alias Sajjad and Mohammad Ramzan Rishi alias Nazir.
April 25	Two HM militants were killed by the security forces in an encounter at village Banj in the Ramban district. They were identified as Mushtaq Ahmed (code name Babar), a resident of Reasi district in Jammu and Kashmir, and Abu Hazla, a Pakistani national. In an effort to ensure early return of Kashmiri migrants displaced due to militancy in 1989-90 in the Valley, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh announced a series of projects worth INR 1600 crore for them including housing, job facilities and waiver of interest on loans. Addressing a public meeting at Army Ground near Akhnoor town after dedicating the newly constructed Chenab Bridge to the people, Dr. Singh said the benefits of the package will apply to all Kashmiri migrant families who had left the Valley with "bag and baggage after 1989 and have not been able to return." In his address, the Prime Minister noted that more than 55,000 Kashmiri families had been "forced to leave their homes in the wake of unfortunate events." They (the migrants) were an "integral part of the composite social fabric" of the Valley and their return would address a "major humanitarian concern that has been crying for attention over the years’’, he added.
April 28	Two local militants of the HM, one of whom was the outfit’s financial chief, were killed in an encounter with the SFs in the Pattan area of Baramulla district. The slain militants were identified as Zahoor Ahmad Waza alias Zee Shan, financial chief, and Mohammad Yousuf Bhat alias Muneer.
April 29	Sajjad Afghani, the Jammu and Kashmir chief of HuM, was shot dead by the Police in a gun-battle at Sopore Sub District Hospital in the Baramulla district. Before shifting his base to Sopore, Afghani had reportedly operated in the Kupwara area for several years. He was allegedly involved in over a dozen armed attacks on security forces, Police and soft targets in north Kashmir in the last 10 years. A top Pakistani militant of the LeT, Mohammed Maqbool alias Abu Hamza, and a police constable, Kikkar Singh, were killed in an encounter at village Muslai in the Kishtwar district. Abu Hamza was active in the Kishtwar and Doda districts for the last four to five years and had been rated as ‘A’ category militant.
April 30	India was among the countries worst affected by terrorism with militant attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and in the Northeast, attacks by Naxalites and attacks elsewhere in the country taking a toll of more than 2,300 lives in 2007, the US State Department said. The State Department, in its annual report on terrorism, said terrorist activities along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir are on the decline but Pakistan-based militant outfits like the LeT and other terrorist groups continue to plan attacks in the Valley. "Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba and other Kashmir-focused groups continued regional attack planning. In 2007, Kashmir-focused groups continued to support attacks in Afghanistan, and operatives trained by the groups continued to feature in Al-Qaeda transnational attack planning," it said.
May 3	A group of three HM militants abducted two civilians, Bashir Ahmed, a PHE employee and Imtiyaz Ahmed, a surrendered militant, from their houses at village Kuchaal in the Kishtwar district and subsequently killed them.
May 9	The BSF foiled an infiltration attempt by a group of militants from the international border at Ragwal village in the Samba sector. BSF sources said "this was possibly the first attempt of infiltration after cease-fire in which militants and their supporters fired more than 1000 rounds," adding that the militants escaped back to Pakistan following effective retaliatory action.
May 11	Four civilians, two soldiers and two LeT militants were killed in an encounter in the Samba town of Jammu. Among the slain civilians were chief photographer of Daily Excelsior Ashok Sodhi, a prominent leader from Samba Hoshiar Singh and his wife, and another woman. 16 SF personnel and two women were injured in the day long gun-battle. Official sources said that two militants wearing Army uniform intruded into the house of Hoshiar Singh, general secretary of Indian National Democratic Party, in Samba town at 5.58am (IST) by scaling the boundary wall. After killing Hoshiar Singh and his wife on the spot, the militants subsequently moved towards the Kaili Mandi area and took hostage three women and two children. In the consequent encounter, two soldiers, Aziz Ahmed and Atul Negi, and a woman were killed. At about 5pm, the SFs stormed the house where the militants were hiding and shot dead both of them. Two unidentified militants died in an encounter with the SFs in the forest area of Garbar in Kupwara district.
May 12	With a third militant killed by Army in Samba in the Jammu district, intelligence agencies have indicated that a group of at least 9-10 militants might have succeeded in infiltrating into the Indian side after cutting fencing from Regal in the Samba sector on May 8-night when the BSF claimed to have foiled an infiltration attempt by a group of militants.