We'll send suicide squads if census continues -- LeT

We'll send suicide squads if census continues -- LeT
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

Karachi, Sept 18: Pakistan-based Muslim militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba warned today it had inducted special squads to attack troops if India did not halt the controversial census in Jammu and Kashmir.

"We have set up around 100 groups of fedayeen (suicide squads) for the sole purpose of attacking Indian troops and Army camps," Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, chief of the outfit told AFP.

He said each group consists of three or four Lashkar militants who would start their operations if the census continued.

Lashkar and another powerful militant group, HizbulM ujahideen, have warned census officials of dire consequences if they took part in the head count.

Feroz Ahmed, chief census officer in Jammu and Kashmir, has appealed to the militants to withdraw their death threats and allow the first local census in two decades.

Meanwhile in Srinagar, two securitymen were killed and five injured in two grenade explosions here since Sunday evening.

Two CRPF jawans were killed and two seriously injured when militants hurled a grenade at their vehicle in the crowded Dalgate area in the city on Monday afternoon, an official spokesman said. The CRPF party did not retaliate to avoid civilian casualties.

Three BSF personnel were injured when militants attacked their picket with a grenade at Naaz crossing in the heart of the city last evening, he said.

Meanwhile, militants shot dead a woman inside her house at Moori-Kalaroose in frontier district of Kupwara last evening, the spokesman said.

In another incident, a civilian sustained bullet injuries in militant attack at Baramulla district town late last night, he added.