On Monday, the Jammu and Kashmir police detained a PhD student along with two undergraduates and the three other men for apparently trying to carry out an attack last month near Banihal on a CRPF vehicle along the Jammu-Srinagar highway.
According to the J&K police, they said that the total of six men were apparently a part of a bid planned and implemented together by the Jaish-e-Mohammad, which claimed the responsibility for the Pulwama attack which was held on February 14, and the Hizbul Mujahideen.
On March 30, a car loaded with explosion hit a CRPF bus, after which it burst into flames and blow up a little later but the driver was able to run away. Apart from the minor damage to the rear of the bus, there were no damages among CRPF personnel.
Jammu IGP M K Sinha said that the three detained students are from Shopian and those are from Hilal Ahmed Mantoo, who is a PhD student at Central University in Bhatinda; the second one is Owais Amin, who was studying BBA and the third one is Umar Shafi, a BCA student. These students were apparently radicalised by the barred Jamaat-i-Islami’s students wing Jamat-ul-Tulba.
As per to the police, the person, Amin who drove the car that hit the CRPF bus and was then arrested two days later. Police said that Shafi, a local of Shopian, was detained on info that Amin provided for the duration of questioning.
The other three men who are arrested for the same are Aquib Shah and Shahid Wani alias Watson, both are the inhabitants of Shopian, as well as Wasim Ahmed Dar alias from Pulwama. Sinha said Mantoo was a close confident of Hizbul commander Dr Saifullah who is functioning in South Kashmir and has inspired numerous young men in the region to join militant ranks.
According to the police, the mastermind behind the unsuccessful attack is a Pakistani terrorist Munna Bihari of Jaish, who is active presently in South Kashmir. An additional Jaish terrorist Shah Jahan was involved in the creation of the car bomb IED.
Two Hizbul Mujahideen units, one headed by Dr Saifullah and the other one by Rayees Ahmed Khan alias Imaad Khan, were also keenly involved in the whole operation with Jaish, right from gathering explosives and additional supplies for the IED, choosing the car and selecting the men for the attack on the CRPF convoy.
Sinha also said that the three students were “selected” for the reason that all the three had clean records and were not on the police’s radar. Omar apparently decided to carry out the attack, Sinha said, and that the car and the IED were made-up in the middle of March 15-25.
As per to the Police, Omar first tried to pass in the CRPF convoy on March 26, but was unsuccessful to do that. The very next day he accomplished to enter the convoy but did not go off, according to police, the IED. Sinha said that his trainers, asked him to clarify of his failure in a video call, after which he was heading for park the car at Banihal so somebody could re-fabricate the IED.
