Security forces have, in a tactical operation, captured two Islamic extremists along with a woman and three children from their hideout at Puttur, a tiny town on the Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu border, on Saturday. A crack team of OCTOPUS, the exclusive anti-terror commando force of the Andhra Pradesh police, rushed to the rescue of the Tamil Nadu police to lay seige at the hide-out and persuade the terrorists, who threatened to set off explosives, to surrender in a tense, action packed seven-hour long operation.
A team of the Tamil Nadu police descended on Puttur, better known for its traditional bone setters, acting on information provided by activist Fakruddin of the Islamic Liberation Front, (ILF) a group founded by a fundamentalist Imam Ali of Madurai. While in custody Fakruddin gave up details of their hideout across the border in Andhra Pradesh. He told them that two of his associates, Bilal Malik and Panna Ismail, who were also allegedly involved with Fakhruddin in a series of violent acts targeting leaders of Hindu groups in Tamil Nadu were staying at Puttur.
The overzealous Tamil Nadu police team decided to get into action without contacting the Andhra Pradesh police. When the posse of Chennai Police knocked at the door of the Puttur hideout - a dowdy building sandwiched between two tall ones - on Saturday morning, the terrorists took them by surprise. One of them stunned the team leader, an inspector, by stabbing him with a knife and retreated inside the house, threatening to blow themselves and the locality with explosives.
It is only then that the shocked Tamil Nadu police sought the help of their Andhra Pradesh counterparts which rushed a team of OCTOPUS commandos from one of its nearby bases in Tirupati. They laid a seige and, at first, appealed to the men to come out and surrender. Malik and Ismail refused to negotiate, withdrew to an inside room and shouted that they will trigger explosives. The rumble of a gas cylinder made the commandos wary about the next move.
As renewed appeals to come out and negotiate failed, the commandos drilled holes in the roof through which they slipped a periscope like device to have firsthand appraisal. When the terrorists tried to pull the recce device, the device was withdrawn and stun grenades and tear gas shells were lobbed inside, forcing the men to push out the woman and the three children - two girls and a boy aged between two and five - to surrender. Skilful negotiators then told the woman to go in and tell the men that they will not be harmed if they came out and then they surrendered.
Police found some IEDS and detonators inside and learnt that Fakhruddin was also staying nearby. They seized a pistol, more IEDs and ten kgs of gelatin following an immediate raid on his hideout. The three men, between 30 and 40 years old, inspired by the leadership of the ILF, had been periodically targetting Hindu activists in Tamil Nadu and retreating to Puttur where they ran a small electrical repairs shop.
Fakhruddin is allegedly responsible for placing a pipe bomb on the route of the BJP leader LK Advani during his visit to Madurai in 2011. The three are wanted for the bombs that went off near the BJP headquarters in Bengaluru in April 2013 and three murders in Tamil Nadu – a Hindu activist on June 26, S. Velliyappan, Tamil Nadu state secretary of the Hindu Munnani at Vellore on July 1 and the Tamil Nadu BJP general secretary V. Ramesh at Salem on July 19 this year
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/elite-andhra-octopus-commandos-capture-islamic-extremists-wanted-for-murders-in-tamil-nadu/1/313279.html
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