On second anniversary of Pulwama attack, JK police recover 7 kg IED in Jammu

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

On the second anniversary of Pulwama terror attack, a seven kg improvised explosive device (IED) was recovered near the Jammu Bus Stand on Sunday, s senior police official said.

Thirty people were injured, three to four among them critically, in a powerful grenade blast around noon at the busy Jammu Bus Stand in the heart of the old city in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday. One of the 30 people who were injured in the grenade explosion has succumbed to his injuries at the Government Medical College and Hospital. A police officer said the grenade had been placed under a bus. (Nitin Kanotra / HT Photo)

The IED was recovered from KC Chowk adjacent to the Jammu Bus Stand. The police official who did not wish to be named said that a militant identified as Suhail Bashir of Al-Badr outfit, was also arrested from the bus stand area. Suhail hails from Pulwama.

The timely detection of the IED averted a possible tragedy because the bus stand normally remains crowded. The device was detected acting on specific information, the official said.

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. But it also exposed chinks in the security grid.

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.

Jammu and Kashmir’s Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh said a commander of Lashkar-e-Mustafa, which is a front of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) was recently arrested in Jammu's Kunjwani.

"He revealed that several hideouts have been stationed in Jammu to spread militancy. They receive weapons from Pakistan, send them to Kashmir and other areas", said the DGP.

Two years ago on this day, a JeM suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, killing 40 troopers.