Pakistani who plotted suicide bombing killed: Police

Srinagar, Feb 18 (IANS) Security forces on Monday shot dead a Pakistani militant of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) who masterminded the suicide bombing of a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir killing 49 troopers, police sources said. Kamran, a JeM commander, was killed in a gunfight barely 10 km from the spot in Pulwama district where the suicide bombing took place on February 14. The second slain militant has been identified as Bilal Ahmed Naik alias Rashid Bhai, a Kashmiri militant, the sources said. A Major and three soldiers, besides a civilian, were also killed in the gunfight, police said. The suicide attack on the Srinagar-Jammu highway was claimed by the JeM. It was the worst ever attack on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989.