The Jammu and Kashmir police said Sunday that they averted a major tragedy when they arrested an alleged al-Badr terrorist late Saturday night when he was trying to plant an improvised explosive device (IED) near the Jammu bus stand as a part of plan to mark the second anniversary of the Pulwama terror attack.
“For the past three to four days we were getting intelligence inputs that an anniversary of Pulwama attack terror groups wanted to carry out a big terror attack in Jammu. Therefore, we were on a high alert." Inspector General of Police (Jammu zone) Mukesh Singh told reporters.
Two years ago on this day, a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a CRPF convoy in Pulwama killing 40 troopers.
“Late Saturday our patrol nabbed a man from the bus stand area with a bag and recovered a 6.5 kg IED from it,” Singh said.
Earlier in the day, a police officer had said that the IED was recovered on Sunday.
The terrorist, a student of a nursing college in Chandigarh, has been identified as Suhail Bashir of Pulwama.
The IGP said that during questioning Suhail divulged that handlers of al-Badr in Pakistan had given him the task to plant a powerful IED in any of the three to four areas of Jammu city.
{{/usCountry}}The IGP said that during questioning Suhail divulged that handlers of al-Badr in Pakistan had given him the task to plant a powerful IED in any of the three to four areas of Jammu city.
{{/usCountry}}"Raghunath Temple, Jammu railway station, general bus stand and Lakhdatta Bazaar (jewellers' market) were the targets," the IGP said.
After planting the IED he had to take a flight to Srinagar where a top over ground worker of al-Badr, Athar Shakeel Khan had to receive him and induct him as an active member of al-Badr, the officer said.
The IGP said that two more men - Qazi Waseem from Chandigarh and Abid Nabi - who had the information about the plan to plant the IED, have also been arrested.
"Had the IED exploded, it would have caused mass destruction," he said.
Director General of Police Dilbag Singh said that police in recent times also arrested Hidayatullah Malik and Zahoor Ahmad Rather, self-styled chief Lashkar-e-Mustafa, an offshoot of Jaish-e-Mohammad 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 that another terrorist Ashiq Nengroo, who used to transport terrorists to Kashmir after receiving them on the international border in Jammu through tunnels and intrusions, escaped to Pakistan with his family via one such tunnel in December 2019 and has been given the task to fuel 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 districts.
Zahoor Ahmad Rather, a top terrorist affiliated with The Resistance Front (TRF) who was wanted in connection with the killing of three BJP workers and a policeman in south Kashmir last year, was arrested in Bari Brahmana area of Samba on Saturday.
Earlier on February 6, self-styled commander of the Lashkar-e-Mustafa (LeM), 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 disturbance in Jammu region", said a senior police officer.