The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Friday arrested two militants who had attacked a camp in Ramban district’s Banihal belt on Wednesday night. One Sashastra Seema Bal trooper was killed in the strike, ANI reported. The police is on the lookout for a third suspect.

The arrested militants were identified as Arif and Ghazanfar. The police also recovered an AK-47 assault rifle and an Insas rifle, which the militants had snatched from the security forces on Wednesday. Both arrested are students, officials said.

Advertisement

During questioning, Arif and Ghazanfar claimed that militant outfits had asked them to snatch weapons from security forces to formally join their ranks, The Indian Express reported.

Inspector General of Police (Jammu) SD Singh said that the two were radicalised and wanted to join militant ranks, but “timely action neutralised their plans”. He added that all three youths were locals, and efforts were on to arrest the third militant.

One jawan was killed in the attack on Wednesday and another was injured in firing at the paramilitary force’s camp in Banihal. The jawans were deployed in the area to protect a construction company setting up a rail tunnel between Banihal and Qazigund.