06 January 2005	Thursday	24 Ziqa'ad 1425

SRINAGAR, Jan 5: Indian troops on Wednesday shot dead a top commander of a militant group, while six people were injured in a grenade blast, police said.

The commander Abu Assadullah, alias Janbaz, was killed during an encounter that lasted 21 hours in the village of Batkote, in northern Kupwara district.

Police said the dead commander was an ally of the Lashkar-i-Taiba. "Janbaz is a Pakistani national," a police spokesman said. Separately, a raid on a Mujahideen hideout in northern Baramulla district led to Indian troops recovering 123 grenades and 24 land and anti-personnel mines, besides explosives and other arms and ammunition, police said.

In Srinagar, four civilians and two policemen were injured in a grenade attack by suspected militants on Wednesday evening, a police spokesman said. -AFP