Pulwama anniversary: Major tragedy averted as 6.5kg IED recovered from Jammu
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Jammu, Feb 15: On the occasion of the 2nd anniversary of the Pulwama attack, a major tragedy was averted in Jammu and Kashmir as terrorists were planning to carry out a major strike at the busy General Bus Stand area in Jammu. The police had recovered a 6.5 kg Improvised Explosive Device ( IED ) planted here in Jammu.
"This could have been a major explosion, many lives could have been lost,” Jammu Police IG Mukesh Singh said. He informed that Police also recovered 15 small IEDs and 6 pistols along with ammunition from Samba on Saturday night. "We are investigating the backward and forward linkages of the recovered arms and ammunition," said the IG.
"We were on high alert as we had inputs that terror groups were planning an attack on the anniversary of Pulwama attack. We had information that this time the attack will be in Jammu city. Last night we arrested a person named Sohail and recovered 6-6.5 kilograms of IED from his possession. The IED was not activated," said Singh.
The IG said that during interrogation, the accused, Sohail, confessed that he is a nursing student and studying in Chandighar. "Sohail received a message from Pakistan's Al-Badr-Tanzeem commander that he has to place an IED here. He was given 3-4 targets to place the IED, which includes Raghunath Temple, bus stand, railway station, and a jewelers' market in Jammu. He was supposed to place an IED in one of these places."
"He further reviled that after placing the IED, he was supposed to take a flight to Srinagar, where a man named Athar Shakeel Khan, a high ranking overground worker of Al-Badr-Tanzeem, would have received him. After that the accused would have become an active member of Al-Badr-Tanzeem," Singh informed.
He added that a person named Qazi Waseem in Chandigarh was also aware of this matter, he has been held. "We have also arrested a person named Abid Nabi," he said.
This development comes on the second anniversary of the Pulwama terror attack when 40 Indian soldiers were killed in 2019 after a suicide bomber rammed an IED-laden vehicle into the security convoy carrying them. Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed had claimed responsibility for the dastardly terror attack.