J-K police arrest govt employee involved in twin blasts in Jammu's Narwal; recover perfume IED from him

Arjun Sharma

Jammu, February 2

The Jammu and Kashmir police have arrested a government employee, who was allegedly involved in the Narwal blasts in Jammu on January 21.

Nine persons were injured in two blasts that occurred in the morning inside two vehicles. Arif, a resident of Reasi, who was being handled by a Pakistan-based terrorist of Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) was arrested by the police after electronic evidence came to the fore.

He is a government employee but was working for the terrorist organisation for the past three years.

Addressing a press conference in Jammu, Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh said Arif was in the past involved in many terror incidents, especially in Jammu region.

The DGP informed that two bombs were planted during the evening on January 20 with a time gap so that when police personnel rush to the spot after the first blast, the second bomb could cause maximum fatalities. The first IED was to hit the local shopkeepers, the DGP informed.

The police immediately sanitized the area due to which only nine persons were injured in the first IED and no damage was caused by the second blasé, though it was very powerful.

Police have also recovered a perfume IED from Arif that has never been used in J&K. “The IED goes off when someone presses the spray button. We have never seen such an IED earlier,” said the DGP.

Police have also made revelation that the Katra bus fire that occurred in May last year was an act of terror.

“The Katra bus fire that occurred in May last year was also an act of terror in which Arif was involved. Two sticky IEDs were planted near the oil tank of the bus for maximum damage,” said the DGP.

Arif’s maternal uncle Kamar Din is based in Pakistan through which he came in contact with an LeT terrorist Kasim who is also from Reasi but now residing in Pakistan.

Arif was also behind another blast in Shastri Nagar of Jammu city in February last year.

Soon after he planted the IEDs at Narwal, Arif burnt his clothes, shoes and also broke the mobile phone that he took with him when he went to plant IEDs.