The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Thursday arrested four people in connection with the shooting at a Srinagar hospital that helped militant Mohammed Naveed Jat escape from custody earlier this week, The Indian Express reported.
The four were held after the police conducted overnight raids in South Kashmir’s Pulwama and Shopian districts. The police had tracked down a motorcycle and another vehicle that the attackers used to flee after the shooting, NDTV reported.
“Immediately after the incident a Special Investigation Team was constituted to inspect all the aspects of this escape,” Additional Director General of Police Muneer Khan told reporters. “We apprehended two terrorists and two OGWs [overground workers of a militant group]. After their arrest we are left with Naveed and another terrorist, who are still at large.”
Meanwhile, the government suspended Hilal Ahmad Rather, the superintendent of the Srinagar central jail, where Jat had been lodged.
Two policemen were killed after Jat, who was taken for a routine check up at the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital, opened fire. Jat is known to be a close associate of Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Abu Qasim, and was arrested from Kulgam in 2014.
On Wednesday, militant group Hizbul Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the attack. Its commander Riyaz Naikoo released an eight-minute audio clip in which he said his men raided the hospital to free Jat, alias Abu Hanzula. Jat had reached South Kashmir safely, he added.
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