Poonch attackers got local help: DGP

Samaan Lateef

Srinagar, April 28

The J&K Police have arrested a man, who was recently detained for interrogation in connection with the Poonch terror attack. The accused has been identified as Nisar Ahmad of Gursai village in Poonch. The terror strike on April 20 had left five soldiers dead and one injured. Nisar is among the 200 people who have been questioned as security forces believe the Poonch attack was carried out with the active local support, said DGP Dilbagh Singh on Friday. His family was also involved in providing support to terrorists, Singh said.

‘Family gave them shelter’

• Nisar, who was recently detained for questioning, has been arrested for sheltering the terrorists who attacked an Army truck, leaving five soldiers dead on April 20.
• His family was also involved in providing support to terrorists, says DGP. Nisar was an overground worker of Lashkar-e-Toiba in 1990s.

According to the DGP, six persons of a module have been arrested. They include those who have provided material (weapons, ammunition, explosives) to the terrorists besides shelter and food and guided them from one to another place.

He also said that the explosives and weapons used in the attack came from Pakistan through drones.

While ambushing the Army truck on April 20, a sharpshooter killed the driver while others rained bullets from both sides. The militants had also snatched rifles of the soldiers before blasting the truck. The terrorists used steel-coated armor-piercing bullets and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to target the vehicle, causing maximum damage, Singh said.

“Without local support such attacks can’t be carried out. The terrorists had done a thorough recce and were provided logistic support by local residents,” he said. “The vehicle was moving at a very low speed because of a sharp turn and attackers had chosen the spot after proper recce,” the police said.

DGP Dilbag Singh said Nisar has confessed to providing logistical support to the terrorists. The militants stayed at Nisar’s residence before relocating to the Bhata Dhurian forests. The security forces took Nisar to the forest to reach the terrorists’ hideout.

Giving further details about the module, Singh said Nisar had been a terrorist for a long time. “He was working as an overground worker for a Pakistan-origin Lashkar-e-Toiba commander in the 1990s. He was under our radar. We had picked him two to three times in the past for interrogation. He was in our list of suspects and was picked this time too,” he said.

Intense search operation is going on to nab the assailants as security forces are identifying the natural hideouts that may have been used by the attackers, he said. Initial investigations suggest that nine to twelve foreign militants may be active in the Rajouri-Poonch area who may have recently infiltrated, the DGP added.