LeT, Hizbul involved in Ummer Fayaz murder

Six militants involved in the abduction and killing of young Army officer Ummer Fayaz in Shopian district of Kashmir have been identified, defence sources said on Thursday. They said the militants are from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen. A massive manhunt has been launched to catch the militants involved in killing of Fayaz, who was abducted and shot dead by the militants.

Meanwhile, a senior police official also said on Thursday that Fayaz's body did not bear any torture marks while adding that the post-mortem report is awaited.

"We have conducted preliminary investigations. It does point out to (the involvement of) a module of Hizbul Mujahideen active in Shopian," Inspector General of Police Kashmir S J M Gillani said. The police have found two empty cartridges of an INSAS rifle at the place where Fayaz was shot dead by the militants in Shopian.

"We had two incidents of weapon-snatching in south Kashmir recently. We have leads that the Kulgam snatching was carried out by Lashkar militants while Hizb militants were involved in weapon-snatching at Shopian court complex (on May 2). So it could be one of those weapons," he said.

Gillani said that the post mortem report was awaited but added that there were no torture marks on Fayaz's body. "The doctors and police officers who examined the body did not find any torture marks," he said.

Fayaz had gone to attend the wedding of the daughter of his maternal uncle at Batapura, about 74 kms from here, from where he was abducted by the militants at around 10 pm on Tuesday. His bullet riddled body was found on Wednesday morning.

On his first leave since joining the Army, he had reached Batapura from Akhnoor in Jammu region where he was posted with 2 Rajputana Rifles. Hailing from Kulgam district, Fayaz was commissioned in the Army in December last year.

The Army has vowed "to bring the perpetrators of this heinous act of terror to justice".

Meanwhile, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi met Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday and held extensive discussions on the security situation along the LoC and international border and issues related to law and order in the state. "The Governor and the Home Secretary held extensive discussions about issues relating to effective maintenance of law and order," a Raj Bhawan spokesman said after the meeting.

Vohra and Mehrishi also discussed matters relating to the security situation along the international border and LoC, increasing attempts at infiltration and growing incidence of terrorism in the valley, the spokesman said.