New Delhi: A major terror strike was averted on the second anniversary of the Pulwama terror attack on Sunday as the police seized Improvised Explosive Device (IED) weighing 6.5 kilograms in Jammu city and arrested three people in connection with the incident.
Jammu Inspector General of Police Mukesh Singh said they were on high alert for the last three to four days following central intelligence inputs about terror groups planning a big attack in Jammu city on the anniversary of the Pulwama attack.
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“Based on this information, we had issued a high alert at prominent locations. We arrested a boy named Sohail during checking last night. He was roaming there in a suspicious condition. He had a big in his hand. When he was interrogated, an IED of approximately 6.5 kg was recovered from the bag which was not activated,” Singh told the media.
“During further interrogation, he revealed he is a student of Nursing College and studies in Chandigarh and he received message from Pakistan’s Al Badr Tanzeem to plant an IED here. He was given three to four targets, including Raghunath Mandir, bus stand, railway station and Lakhdata Bazar where there are jewellery shops, for placing the IED. He had to keep the IED in one of these locations,” he added.
The top cop further said the arrested boy also informed during interrogation that he had to board a flight to Srinagar after placing the IED.
“He was supposed to meet a man named Athar Shakil Khan, who is high over ground worker of the Al Badr Tanzeem, in Srinagar. He would then become active with Tanzeem. So, this was his plan,” said Singh.
“Another boy in Chandigarh named Qazi Waseem also knew about this plan. He too has been picked from Chandigarh and will be arrested soon. Another boy linked to Tanzeem named Aabid Nabi has also been arrested,” he added.
The senior police official also informed that the patrolling party in another incident recovered six pistols and 15 small IEDs during night patrol in Samba’s Jhang area falling under the Ramghar Police Station.
