After suffering huge losses during the recent anti terrorist operations in the Kashmir valley, ‘unidentified’ terrorists on Monday targeted an army convoy moving from Baramulla towards Srinagar but failed to hit the target.
At least seven civilians passing through the area received injuries after the grenade hurled by the terrorists missed the target and exploded in the middle of the road near Azadgunj Bridge area of Baramulla.
CCTV footage of the spot revealed the grenade had exploded seconds after the last vehicle of an army convoy was passing through the bridge. Large number of civilians were also seen running in different directions after the grenade blast.
It is after a long gap, terrorist handlers have attempted to directly target an army convoy in Baramulla.
All the recent strikes were aimed at either CRPF or Jammu & Kashmir police personnel.
According to a Jammu & Kashmir police spokesman, “the grenade attack on an Army convoy was reported in Baramulla around 1.15 pm in which seven civilians received injuries on Monday”.
All the injured were shifted to the hospital for the treatment of their injuries, the spokesman added. In another important development, the joint teams of Jammu and Kashmir police and Army RR unit in Reasi claimed to have busted a LET revival plan in Mahore area.
So far three Over ground workers including a government teacher have been arrested by the police and interrogated by various other intelligence agencies at a Joint Interrogation centre. Addressing a press conference on Monday, SSP Reasi Rashmi Wazir said, we have busted a plan of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) based in Pakistan to revive its network in Jammu and Kashmir’’s Reasi district and have arrested its three OGW’s.
SSP Reasi said, these “overground workers” were in contact with their Pakistani handler (LeT) Mohd Qasim of Mahore who had exfiltrated to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in 2002.
The SSP said information was received through reliable sources at Police Station Mahore that some unknown persons in the area were in touch with LeT terrorists based in Pakistan to revive the LeT in Mahore with the intention to wage war against the country and disturb the sovereignty and integrity of India.
Based on this information, a case was registered on August 5, and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to investigate it, she said.
During the course of the investigation, with the help of technical data analysis support from the Army and intelligence units working in Mahore area and interrogation of suspects by the SIT, it emerged that Mohd Qasim, who is working for the LeT across the border, is the mastermind behind the module, the SSP said.
She said Qasim was trying to establish a network of “overground workers” so that the LeT could utilise it to recruit from Mahore and adjoining areas, provide logistics support and establish an LeT base to facilitate the crossing of terrorists via various routes, including but not limited to Rajouri belt-Mahore-Nikin Gali to Kashmir via Kulgam area.
The three people arrested were identified as Ghulam Hussain of Kulwa Mulas, Abdul Aziz of Sildhar and Ashfaq Ahmed of Malan Bathoie, the SSP said.
One of them is a government teacher, one is a shopkeeper and the other is a labourer, she said.
“Some ‘’benami’’ transactions in different accounts of these suspects have also been detected, and some families of slain militants who have received financial aid from the ISI have also been identified,” Wazir said.
The investigation in this regard is in progress, the SSP said.