6.5kg IED found near bus stand in Jammu
JAMMU: On the eve of the second anniversary of the Pulwama terror attack, the police recovered an improvised explosive device (IED) weighing 6.5 kilogrammes from a member of the al-Badr terrorist group in the always crowded Jammu bus stand on Saturday, and claimed to have averted a major attack
“For the past three to four days we were getting Intel inputs that on the anniversary of the Pulwama attack, terror groups wanted to carry out a big attack in Jammu. Therefore, we were on a high alert,” inspector general of police (Jammu zone) Mukesh Singh said.” Late Saturday, our patrol nabbed a man from the bus stand area with a bag and recovered a 6.5 kg IED from it.”
The terrorist, a student of a nursing college in Chandigarh, has been identified as Suhail Bashir of Pulwama.
Sunday marked the second anniversary of the Pulwama bombing in which a car packed with explosives rammed a bus that was part of a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy, killing 40 troopers, in an attack that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of an armed conflict.
IGP Singh said that during questioning Suhail revealed that Pakistan-based handlers of the al-Badr had assigned him the job of planting the powerful IED in any of three to four areas of Jammu city. “Raghunath Temple, Jammu railway station, general bus stand and Lakhdatta Bazaar (jewellers’ market) were the targets, “he said.
After planting the IED he had to take a flight to Srinagar where a top leader of the al-Badr, Athar Shakeel Khan, was to receive him. The IGP said that two more men — Qazi Waseem from Chandigarh and Abid Nabi — who had information about the planned attack, had also been arrested. “Had the IED exploded, it would have caused mass destruction,” he said.
Director general of police (DGP) Dilbag Singh said that the police had recently also arrested Hidayatullah Malik and Zahoor Ahmad Rather, the self styled chiefs of the Lashkar-e-Mustafa, an offshoot of the Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist group that claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack, and the Resistance Front, an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba, from Jammu.
“Their arrest, recovery of IED and arrest of al-Badr militant are three big achievements of Anantnag, Jammu and Samba police, “he said.
The DGP also said another terrorist, Ashiq Nengroo, who used to transport terrorists to Kashmir after receiving them on the international border in Jammu, via tunnels and intrusions,had escaped to Pakistan with his family via one such tunnel in December 2019 and had been given the task of fuelling terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. The IED recovery comes close on the heels of the arrest of two top terrorists from Kunjwani in Jammu and Bari Brahmana area of Samba.
Zahoor Ahmad Rather, a top terrorist affiliated with the Resistance Front , who was wanted in connection with the killing of three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers and a policeman in south Kashmir last year, was arrested in Bari Brahmana area of Samba on Saturday.
On February 6, the self-styled commander of the Lashkar-eMustafa, Hidayatullah Malik, alias Hasnain, was held from the Kunjwani area of Jammu. “Obviously there are now attempts by Pakistan and various terror outfits to create disturbances in the Jammu region”, said a senior police officer.
Raghunath Temple, Jammu railway station, general bus stand and Lakhdatta Bazaar (jewellers’ market) were the targets MUKESH SINGH, Inspector general of police (Jammu zone)