‘Unknown’ Pak-based terror outfit behind Udhampur blasts, says NIA
NEW DELHI: An “unknown” terror outfit based in Pakistan planned the twin bus explosions in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district in September, just ahead of Union home minister Amit Shah’s visit to the Union territory, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) officer familiar with the probe said on Monday.
Two people were injured in the blasts that took place within a span of eight hours – at Baigra fuel station near Domail Chowk at 10.30pm on September 28 and at old bus stand at around 6am on September 29 – triggering panic in the area. The incident put the entire state police and central agencies on alert amid the Navratri festival and ahead of Shah’s scheduled visit on October 4.
“We are looking at the formation of a new unknown outfit by Pakistan-based terror handlers to target government installations, army/ security forces camps, Kashmiri Pandits and other residents as well as migrant workers in Jammu and Kashmir,” the NIA officer said, asking not to be named.
On October 2, J&K director general of police (DGP) Dilbag Singh said a “recycled” terrorist, Mohammad Aslam Sheikh, was arrested and confessed to planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the two buses on the direction of his Pakistani handler Mohammed Amin Bhat alias Khubaib.
While handing over the investigation to NIA, the Union home ministry said the blasts may have grave national security ramifications.
Two separate FIRs registered by NIA in the twin blasts on November 15 said “an unknown outfit hatched criminal conspiracy to wage war against the government of India and to create terror and fear among the citizens of the area, by causing explosion in buses in Udhampur”. HT has seen copies.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that this new outfit is nothing but LeT’s proxy only,” the officer said.
As part of its larger international conspiracy probe, NIA will also look at whether the Pakistan army, its spy agency ISI and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) have propped up yet another “front” to carry out terror activities in J&K, the officer added.
During his press conference on October 2, DGP Singh, along with additional DGP Mukesh Singh, said Bhat, who is settled in Pakistan, had sent the IEDs to India through a drone which were collected by Sheikh from Kathua on September 23.
“Bhat contacted Aslam Sheikh through social media apps and provided him with three sticky bombs and four IEDs through a drone,” the additional DGP said.
Indian agencies have said that The Resistance Front (TRF), which has been found involved in attacks on Kashmiri Pandits and migrant workers in the Valley for the past one and a half years, was created by the Pakistan army and the ISI in response to India’s nullification of Article 370 (special status for J&K) in 2019.
The outfit is nothing but an offshoot of LeT, they said.