Police have also recovered Rs 47.5 lakh and a large amount of explosives; 1.3 kilogram RDX, 2.9 kg black gun powder, 10 TNT slabs, 10 primers and 12 safety fuses; a .30 Chinese pistol and an AK-56 rifle with 20 live cartridges from their possession.

One of the police teams investigating the recent ISBT bomb blast received a tip-off that a man called Sohail Irdish had been receiving secret messages from Srinagar. Investigations revealed that the chief administrator of Hizbul Mujahideen was, through Sohail Irdish, in constant touch with the deputy supreme commander of the organisation Ali Mohd Dar, based in Srinagar.

Besides Mushtaq Ahmed Gilkar, a few other militants were also reported to be in the city to establish a basefor terrorist activities.

Meanwhile, Sohail Irdish went underground and investigations received a setback. In a raid that followed the exchange of information with the J&K police, Ali Mohammed Dar along with his two associates died in an encounter in Srinagar.

A police team located the STD booth in Durga Vihar, Devli Extension, Khanpur from where chief administrator Gilkar had been in touch with Sohail Irdish. The team also located the house of Mushtaq Ahmed Gilkar and kept watch for a week.

A truck bearing number plate JK-03-1398 was stopped while it was approaching Khanpur and four persons arrested: Gilkar, Sohail Irdish, Faiyaz Ahmed and Javed. Mushtaq Ahmed Gilkar alias Haider Ali, 42, a resident of Doda, who was a teacher in Central Model School in J&K joined militancy in 1990 and had recently been appointed as chief administrator of the organisation. Javed, a company commander, had been trained in Pakistan and had been involved in terrorist activities in J&K. Fayaz Ahmed had been releasedrecently.

According to police commissioner V.N. Singh, ``With these arrests and death of the notorious militant Ali Mohd Dar in Srinagar, an important breakthrough has been achieved in containing Kashmiri terrorism.''