|
Hizbul Mujahideen disowns faction; more attacks in India-held Kashmir
 [DAWN] MUZAFFARABAD: Hizbul Mujahideen, a local hard boy group, has disowned a splinter faction suspected of a string of killings in India-held Kashmire, with the rebuke followed swiftly on Friday by a string of attacks on telecommunication facilities in the region's main city.The escalating rivalry is fuelling concern that rogue holy warriors could ratchet up tension between India and Pakistain. Hizbul Mujahideen, a Kashmiri separatist group whose leader Syed Salahuddin is based in Pakistain, said on Thursday it had expelled Abdul Qayoom Najar over his involvement in "gruesome murder" and the "character liquidation of established pro-freedom leadership". Indian security forces say Najar leads a breakaway group called Lashkar-e-Islam ...the name's also used by the group of Islamic bandidos infesting Khyber Agency. It's headed by a former bus driver.... that has perpetrated a series of attacks around Sopore, killing five people including telecommunication vendors and former hard boys. In an apparent escalation on Friday, three more attacks were carried out on telecommunication facilities in Srinagar, one of them near the office of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Sayeed, who leads the People's Democratic Party that seeks self-rule, rules India-held Kashmire in an uneasy coalition with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. A senior police officer said one person had been injured in the attack near the chief minister's office, which declined to comment. Earlier, turbans threw grenades inside two mobile phone shops in Srinagar, injuring one person. Lashkar-e-Islam has warned people to stop working for telecommunication companies, saying that Indian security forces are using mobile phone services to target members of the group. Posted by: Fred 2015-07-25 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=424334 |