The police in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday claimed that they have busted modules of militant outfits Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba and arrested five people, reported PTI.
The police said that they arrested four men, who were allegedly planning a car-bomb attack on security forces in Pulwama’s Pampore town. “Jaish wanted to carry out a car-bomb attack and the Awantipora police was tracking this module,” Kashmir zone Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar told reporters. “We have arrested four persons in this regard and have also seized the car that was to be used in carrying out the attack.”
Kumar claimed that the militant outfit had motivated Sahil Nazir, a first-year college student, through Telegram and other mobile messaging applications to procure a second-hand car for carrying out the attack.
He claimed that Nazir has confessed to his involvement in the plot and also admitted to throwing a grenade at security forces in Pampore on January 25. The others who have been arrested in the alleged Jaish-e-Mohammed attack module are Kaiser Ahmad, Mohammad Younis Fayaz and Yasir Wani, according to Greater Kashmir. The police officer said that the car was seized from the house of Fayaz.
In the Lashkar-e-Taiba case, the police arrested an overground worker of the militant outfit and seized 25 kilograms of explosives from his house in Pampore. “On the instructions of Omar Khanday, who joined the militant ranks last year, the LeT had planned to carry out a fidayeen [suicide] attack or an IED [improvised explosive device] blast at the municipal committee building in Pampore,” Kumar claimed.
Kumar claimed that Khanday was involved in the killing of two police personnel in Srinagar’s Baghat area. Besides Khanday, the LeT module comprises Musaib Ahmad Gojri Ahmed, Muneeb Mushtaq and Shahid Sofi, according to the police officer.
Kumar made the statement at a press conference held after the killing of holding Gani Khawaja, the chief commander of militant group Al-Badr, on Tuesday.
The police officer said the operation around Khawaja’s killing was “clean” with no collateral damage. “It is a major success for security forces,” he said. “Abdul Gani had joined militancy in 2001 and was arrested in 2007. He was released in 2008 and worked as an OGW [overground worker] till 2018. He became active again in 2018.”
Kumar said the slain militant had parted ways with Hizbul Mujahideen and worked to reactivate Al-Badr on instructions from Pakistan. “He was involved in recruiting new militants for Al-Badr in Kashmir while receiving groups from across the Line of Control,” he said. “He was a very big commander.”
The Kashmir Police had earlier said that Khwaja was involved in several attacks on security forces and civilians. “Dozens of cases have been registered against him in north Kashmir,” they said.
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