The Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh Police shot dead a hardcore militant of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) in an encounter in Ayodhya in the wee hours on Tuesday, official sources said. The militant, identified as Imran, was the area commander of the outfit, and was on the run following the arrest of two of his accomplices -- Altaf Hussain and Abdul Rehman – from cantonment area in Faizabad on Monday evening. The two arrested militants had planned to strike in a big way on the eve of Independence Day, a senior police official said. Police had recovered 12 kg of RDX and several weapons from them, he said. Bureau Report