Terror tremor: Minister killed in living room

Barely 300 yards away, another militant got into the residence of CPM leader and MLA M Y Tarigami but was killed in an encounter with his guards, killing one of them.

Both militant groups Al Mansoorian and Islamic Jihad Front, in separate telephone statements to a local news agency, claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Although Lone, a doctor who joined the PDP and contested from Sangrama, is the third minister to be killed, this is the first attack targeting top political leaders since Mufti Mohamamd Sayeed took over in 2002.

Junior Home Minister Mushtaq Lone and Power Minister Ghulam Hassan Bhat have also been killed by militants.

Police and eyewitnesses said that at around 9 am, each militant knocked at the doors of Lone and Tarigami.

‘‘We were all together watching TV while my father was reading the newspapers,’’ Lone’s son Shoaib Ahmed told The Indian Express. ‘‘A sentry walked in and said some guests want to meet him. My father stood up and went to the adjoining room. While walking upstairs, I saw a militant forcing his entry into our house firing indiscriminately. I ran downstairs and saw my father in a pool of blood. He was hit in the abdomen, leg and arms but he was talking. We rushed him to the hospital but he died in my lap.’’

Lone’s driver, Bashir Ahmad, was in the lane next to the entrance washing the minister’s car. ‘‘I heard gunshots and took refuge under the vehicle,’’ he said. ‘‘When the firing stopped, I saw a CRPF man lying dead.’’

The militant, in fact, opened fire as soon as he entered Lone’s house, killing CRPF man Shamboo Prasad and injuring five security men and two civilians. ‘‘He shot the Minister sahib in his drawing room,’’ said Deputy Inspector General of Police, Kashmir range, H K Lohia.

While the Lone attack was on, the second militant tried to sneak into Tarigami’s residence. A guard, at the entrance, Abdul Rashid was frisking guests when he found the militant trying to hide his gun.

‘‘As soon as Rashid noticed the gun, the militant opened fire,’’ said another guard who was involved in the encounter. ‘‘We retaliated, the militant was hit and killed but not before he had killed Rashid too.’’

‘‘I heard gunshot followed by a burst of fire,’’ said a rattled Ghulam Hassan Khan, junior minister for Social Welfare, who lives adjacent to Lone. ‘‘We locked all our doors.’’

Tarigami called the twin attacks a major security breach. ‘‘How can a man enter such a highly guarded premises with a rifle?’’ he asked. ‘‘If my security guard had not laid down his life, my life would have never been saved.’’

He said his security guards later told him that the two militants had appeared at his gate at 6.45 am seeking a meeting. ‘‘My guards told them to come back at 9,’’ he said.

Lone’s body was taken to Sopore where former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah came to pay his condolences. ‘‘He was a doctor. He had never been involved in politics before and had a sudden entry when he contested the Assembly elections,’’ said Imtiyaz Ahmad, Lone’s brother-in-law.

As Lone’s body was taken for burial to his ancestral graveyard in Nowpora, hundreds of men and women wept and beat their chests. His neighbours remembered him as a ‘‘humble’’ doctor. ‘‘He was a good man, he never charged any fee for treating people of his area,’’ said Syed Abdul Majid Bukhari, a local Imam.

Chief Minister Sayeed condemned the killing of Lone and said it had come at a time when the administration was busy providing relief to earthquake victims.

‘‘He was a gentle human being and an able politician,’’ Mufti said. ‘‘I don’t know what they (militants) achieved by assassinating such a noble soul.’’