Scorned lover sets death trap for JeM leader, helps Indian troops to track terrorist after 'forced abortion'

Indian forces claim they shot dead a top leader of the Kashmir militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad in a clash in the disputed territory on Monday.

The Pakistani national known as 'Khalid' was trapped in a house after throwing a grenade at a police checkpoint in the northern village of Ladoora, they said.

Khalid has been accused of organising a string of suicide attacks across Indian-administered Kashmir, which Pakistan also claims as it own.

'He was one of the most wanted militants and the chief operational commander of JeM,' Kashmir inspector-general of police, Muneer Ahmed Khan, told AFP.

'He threw a grenade at the checkpoint which failed to explode. He then fired a pistol and took refuge in a nearby house where he was killed.'

Police said Khalid had planned suicide attacks in Muslim-majority Kashmir, including one on a paramilitary camp near Srinagar airport on October 3 in which one soldier and three attackers were killed.

In August JeM said it staged a raid on a police base in the southern town of Pulwama in which eight security force members died. A two-day gun-battle also left three of the attackers dead.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British rule in 1947. Both claim the territory in full.

Rebel groups including JeM have for decades fought Indian troops in the restive territory, demanding independence or a merger of the Himalayan region with Pakistan.

The fighting has left tens of thousands dead, mostly civilians.

The estimated 500,000 Indian troops in Kashmir this year launched 'Operation Allout' to hunt rebels.

A young woman in her early 20s walked into a senior Jammu and Kashmir cop's office and announced: 'I want him dead,' she told the officer. 'I will lead you to his tracks; you do the rest.' 

The woman was referring to Khalid, the Valley chief of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) group.

Security personnel gunned down the alleged terrorist on Monday in Ladoora area of North Kashmir. The woman was Khalid's lover and she claims that the two shared several



midnight trysts.

But a year ago, she discovered she was pregnant. She revealed this with great joy to Khalid, expecting him to be equally excited. But his answer led to heartbreak. He wanted nothing to do with either her or the baby inside her.

Scorned, she left with a cousin to Punjab's Jalandhar district where the three-month-old fetus was clandestinely aborted.

The woman returned, determined to eliminate the man who she believed used her and led to her humiliation and death of her unborn child. She wanted blood. From then on, Khalid's days were numbered.

There were several close calls for the terrorist who had a long run of eight years. The face behind Jaish's deadly fidayeen attacks repeatedly sent jihadis from North to South Kashmir.

He 'kept the pot boiling' for Pakistan in the Valley and was behind a dozen attacks in North Kashmir, mostly in Sopore, Baramulla, Handwara and Kupwara.

Terrorists in the Valley have been under pressure from security forces because of the relentless operations against them over the past months. Troops have been sweeping even far-flung areas in the backwoods to take out hiding militants.

Khalid though retained a lover-boy image, and even at the time of death reportedly had three-four girlfriends.

Once when the woman informed the cops about the JeM jihadi, the police action and cordoning could begin only after he left.

On other occasions, he dropped by unexpectedly and she could not alert the authorities.

This time too, the Jammu & Kashmir Police had received a tip from sources close to the woman. A covert team waited for Khalid's entry in Sopore. He had come to meet an important contact.

He fired indiscriminately but the police's special operations group (SOG) retaliated quickly, injuring him.

The firing lasted only four minutes. Khalid managed to reach a residence, close to a government school in Ladoora.

Cornered and overpowered, the Jaish chief was neutralised by the SOG, three battalions of the CRPF, and the Army's 32 Rashtriya Rifles (RR).