JAMMU: Two Kashmiris have been arrested and two others are on the run for their role in Friday’s terror attack in Jammu’s Sunjwan that left a CISF officer dead and nine security personnel injured, said Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Jammu, Mukesh Singh.
On Friday morning, two Pakistani terrorists, who were planning to carry out suicide attacks, were killed in an encounter with security forces that broke out during a search operation in the area.
“After a thorough investigation and analysing CCTV footage, it was concluded that the two fidayeen attackers of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) were picked up by Jaish operative Bilal Ahmed Wagay, a Kashmiri, from Samba in a vegetable-laden truck,” Singh told reporters here on Saturday.
He said that the investigation also suggested that two Kashmiri brothers from Tral — Shafiq Ahmed and Asif Ahmed who were working in a walnut factory in Narwal, close to Sujwan were in touch with a Jaish commander through Telegram application.
The ADGP said that the Jaish commander has been identified as having a code name Veer. He said that the role of another youth Iqbal from Dhamhal Hanjipora in southern Kashmir’s Kulgam has also come to the fore. “Shafiq and Iqbal have been arrested while others are on the run.”
The officer further said that after sustained interrogation, Shafiq revealed that slain Jaish fidayeen were not able to speak Urdu, Hindi, English but only Pashto. “This suggests that the fidayeen were either from Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa belt or Afghanistan,” he said.
Giving the detail of the sequences of events, the Jammu police said that Bilal Way had reached Jammu on April 20 and helped the fidayeen travel from Samba to Sunjwan. “All these Kashmir youth were in touch with JeM commander across under code name Veer and the Telegram group run by them was named as Pagal Jamaat,” he said adding that JeM commander Veer had informed Bilal Wagay and Shafiq that they have to receive two Jaish fidayeen in Jammu.
Singh said that fidayeen were tasked to carry out a massive strike in the Jammu region which was foiled by alert security forces. “More arrests are likely to be made in the case as investigations are on,” the ADGP Jammu said.
“Initial investigations reveal that the slain duo were either Afghanis or from Pakistan’s Khyber-Pokhtoonkhan belt,” he said, adding that the arms and ammunition seized from the terrorists suggested that they were tasked to carry out a massive suicide strike in Jammu.
NIA likely to take over case:
On Saturday, National Investigation Agency (NIA) chief Kuldiep Singh visited the spot. Although there has been no official word, it is believed that the NIA is likely to take over the investigation of the terror attack.
Singh was accompanied by the Inspector General of CRPF, Jammu sector, PS Ranpise. He also visited the house where two Pakistani terrorists had taken shelter after attacking a bus carrying jawans of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in the wee hours of Friday.
NIA team collected some samples from the spot and held interaction with the local police officers who were at the forefront during the encounter.
Besides the two terrorists, a CISF officer died in the gunfight that took place near an Army camp in Sunjwan. Nine security personnel were also injured as forces engaged the terrorists after they attacked the CISF bus.
The killed terrorists were in possession of a large quantity of arms, ammunition, and explosive devices including two AK rifles, one Under Barrel Grenade Launcher, one satellite telephone, energy drinks, and Pakistan-made medicines, and were wearing explosive-filled vests to cause maximum casualties.