LeT terrorists,equipped with guns, stormed local mosque after Eid prayers in Kulgam

Collected funds to sustain operations

Facing acute shortage of ‘money and manpower‘ to sustain themselves, a three-member group of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorists Wednesday desecrated a local mosque in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district and collected a large amount of funds from worshippers.

During their short stay inside the mosque, these LeT terrorists, who were led by a local commander also shouted Pro-Pakistan slogans and motivated youth to support them and join their ranks.

A one-minute-long video clipping of LeT terrorists, addressing local residents inside a mosque in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district went viral on various social media platforms on Thursday.

Soon after receiving the information about the movement of three LeT terrorists in the area the local police authorities had swung into action to track down their footprints.

According to district police authorities in Kulgam, three terrorists equipped with illegal weapons entered Jamia Masjid Qaimoh in Kulgam around 9.45 a.m”.

Soon after receiving the information police teams were rushed to the spot but before police teams could reach there the LeT terrorists had managed to escape.

According to police, “the terrorists stayed there for about five minutes and tried to motivate the youth who were present there to support them and join terrorist ranks“. Before leaving, they fired some aerial shots, local reports claimed

Unconfirmed reports, however, suggested, LeT terrorists had also collected a large amount of money to sustain themselves and desperately sought help from locals to join their ranks.

According to police “a criminal case in this regard under relevant sections has been registered in Police station Qaimoh.”

It is not for the first time a religious place has been abused by the terror outfits in Kashmir valley. On several occasions in the past terrorists had either taken shelter during operations to save their lives.

Police said, in recent years it is for the first time terrorists stormed a religious place seeking the support of local residents in sustaining their movement.

In the past, different terror outfits have often used these places to mobilize crowds to disrupt anti-terrorist operations.

Announcements were made from loudspeakers to rush towards encounter site and disrupt operations to allow cornered militants to flee.

At the peak of militancy, the same religious places were used to spread panic among the members of the migrant community to run away from Kashmir valley. The loudspeakers were used to threaten members of the minority community and pressuring them to run away in the early 1990s. Later, in 1993 famous Hazratbal Shrine was used to stage a hostage crisis and secure release of arrested terrorists.