BUNTY MAHAJAN
JAMMU, APRIL 23: In a major breakthrough into the killing of two fidayeen in an encounter on Friday in Jalalabad area of Sunjwan, Jammu and Kashmir Police on Saturday claimed to have apprehended two Jaish-e-Mohammad operatives who had allegedly provided them logistics to stay in Jammu.
Identifying them as Shafiq Ahmed Sheikh from Mir Mohalla in Tral and Mohammad Iqbal Rather of D H Pora in Kulgam, Additional Director General of Police for Jammu, Mukesh Singh here said that the former used to stay along with his brother Asif at latter’s house in Jalalabad area. Shafiq had been working in a walnut factory at Narwal which was not too far off from Jalalabad area where the encounter had taken place on Friday, he added.
Both Shafiq and Asif had been deeply involved with Jaish-e-Mohammad, Singh said that the latter had created a Telegram ID under the name Pagal Jamal for his brother and had also provided him another mobile phone SIM card. Through Telegram ID, Shafiq had been in contact with a Pakistan based Jaish commander code named Veer who had directed him to receive a group of suicide attackers who will be brought to Jammu by someone and take them to his residence.
Though the Jaish commander did not disclose him the name of the person bringing the suicide attackers, Singh said that police on the basis of technical analysis and other evidence identified him as Bilal Ahmed Beig of Kokernag.
On the morning of April 20, Bilal on directions of Jaish commander had left Pulwama and reached Jammu’s Transport Nagar area the same evening. At midnight, he went to Supowal in Samba district and picked up both the fidayeen in a truck which had a false cavity covered by empty vegetable crates. From there, they returned to Jalalabad in Sunjwan area where Shafiq received the suicide attackers and took them home.
Both the suicide attackers stayed at his residence for the entire day on April 21 and used Shafiq’s mobile phone and Telegram ID to contact Jaish Commander Veer in Pakistan to finalise their plan. The Jaish commander asked Shafiq to take them to the nearest security forces installation, the ADGP said, adding that both the militants were instructed to go out the same night and cause that level of damage which is good enough to “deter and discourage’’ the VVIP visit.
However, before they could set out on their mission, police received inputs from intelligence about the presence of two militants in the area and accordingly cordoned off the area and called out other forces, he said. “We managed to keep them holed up inside the cordon through night,’’ he said, adding that had they moved out with the kind of suicide vest and the arms-ammunition they were carrying, they would have caused huge damage.
In the morning, as they opened fire in a bid to break through the cordon, they were eliminated, he added.
Pointing out that the CCTV footage on the highway and in Jalalabad area corroborate all these details, Singh said that the slain militants did not speak Kashmiri, Dogri or Hindi language which Shafiq understands. They were speaking in a language which Shafiq did not understand, but when he was made by us to listen to Pashto, he confirmed that they were speaking in that language, he said, adding that this indicates that the militants were either from Pakistan’s areas adjoining Afghanistan or Afghanistan where this language is spoken.
While police are looking for absconding Bilal and Asif, investigations are in progress, he added.
