Jammu and Kashmir’s security establishment has detained hundreds of people across the Valley for questioning in connection with the Pahalgam terror attack.
Police said one of the three militants involved in the attack was a local while the two others were Pakistanis. The police on Thursday identified the three attackers as Adil Hussain Thokar from Anantnag and Ali Bahi alias Talha Bahi and Hashim Musa alias Suleman from Pakistan. Their sketches were released on Wednesday.
Adil Hussain Thokar, ironicaly, shares his name with ponywallah Syed Adil Shah, a resident of a Pahalgam village who reportedly lost his life trying to save the tourists.
Thokar is believed to have legally travelled to Pakistan in 2018 through the Attari-Wagah land border and returned as a militant last year. He had been keeping a low profile, the police said.
The police have announced a reward of ₹20 lakh each for anyone sharing information or leads about the Pahalgam militants. “The three are involved in the terrorist attack on civilians in Baisaran, Pahalgam,” the police said.
Twenty-five tourists and ponywallah Shah were killed in the Pahalgam attack, the deadliest on visitors in the decades-long insurgency. Security forces have launched a massive operation to hunt down the militants in the Pahalgam forests.
Locals said hundreds of army, police and CRPF personnel were combing the area to trace the militants. The operation is accompanying a Valley-wide crackdown in which, according to sources, around 1,500 men have been detained for questioning. That makes it one of the biggest operations in years.
The government is officially tight-lipped about the crackdown being conducted in almost all Kashmir districts. Police sources said those detained include suspected overground workers and those linked to militancy in the past.
An official said the case was being handled by the Jammu and Kashmir police, but the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is likely to take over the investigation.
NIA officials, too, are part of the investigations.
The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba, has claimed responsibility for the attack.
BSF jawan strays into Pak, detained
A Border Security Force jawan from Bengal has been detained by the Pakistan Rangers after he crossed the border near Punjab’s Firozpur.
Talks are on between the two forces to secure his release, sources said on Thursday. Constable P.K. Sahu of the 182nd battalion was apprehended by the Pakistan Rangers across the Ferozepur border on Wednesday, said an official.
Bengal resident Sahu was in uniform and was carrying his service rifle. He was accompanying farmers when he moved ahead to rest in the shade and was apprehended by the Rangers. “...I called his office multiple times, but the commanding officer did not speak. I want my son back from Pakistan,” said father Bholanath Sahu, who lives in Rishra, Hooghly.
“He unintentionally stepped into Pakistani territory.... Senior officials from both sides are in touch to resolve the matter,” said a BSF official.