Mystery has deepened in the Thursday’s car blast in south Kashmir, which left one dead and 14 injured, as the driver victim turned out to be a local student with no background of any militant activities in the past.
“There is no pointer to the fact the driver was a militant. We cannot categorise him as classified militant since he has no background. We checked his family and other connections, nothing that suggests he had link with militants has emerged,” said Bijbehara’s sub-district police officer Manovjit Singh.
The dead driver, whose body blew into the pieces, has been identified as 27-year-old Mohammad Abbas, a resident of Chursoo village in Pulwama district.
“The car does not belong to him. It may be a stolen car. We are waiting for expert report to confirm material used for the explosion. We cannot rule out the possibility of him being a fresh recruit,” said Singh.
A relative of Abbas told the Hindustan Times that he left for a hospital where a relative is admitted. “Abbas has been attending the patient for several days,” said the relative on the condition of anonymity.
The victim could not be identified yesterday by the family as the body was beyond recognition. But as Abbas did not return home, the family returned to the morgue to identify it again.
{{/usCountry}}The victim could not be identified yesterday by the family as the body was beyond recognition. But as Abbas did not return home, the family returned to the morgue to identify it again.
{{/usCountry}}The victim was an under graduate student and belong to a middle class family with five siblings, one sister and four brothers. Most in the family are government employees.
Sources said the police are busy joining the points to find out of he was inside the car or outside when the explosion took place.
The car blast, which took place on the Srinagar-Jammu highway metres away from a police station, left 14 others injured, including four security personnel.