An overground worker (OGW) has been arrested for providing logistics to terrorists who attacked a bus carrying pilgrims in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district.
The worker was arrested in Rajouri in what police claimed was a major breakthrough in their investigation around 10 days after the incident. Reasi Senior Superintendent of Police Mohita Sharam said that the man, Hakam, 45, was arrested for helping the terrorists to execute the attack.
“Along with providing food and shelter, the said person also acted as a guide and helped them reach the spot of the incident,” she said. “Further interrogation and investigation of the case is going on,” she added.
The June 9 attack on the bus carrying pilgrims to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine left nine people dead and 41 injured. The bus plunged into a deep gorge after being fired upon by terrorists. The pilgrims were mostly from Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi.
Around 50 people have been detained in connection with the investigation into the attack. The Union Home Ministry has transferred the case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Earlier, the J&K police released a sketch of a suspect and also declared a reward of Rs 20 lakh for information on those involved.
Sources said the three Pakistani terrorists believed to be involved in the attack were part of the same group that targeted an Indian Air Force (IAF) convoy in Poonch on May 4. The three terrorists are trained in jungle warfare, use US-made M4 carbines and can live in natural caves for days, sources said.
The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba terror outfit, initially claimed responsibility for the attack, but retracted its statement later. On Sunday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a high-level meeting in Delhi on the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of the recent terror attacks and also took stock of preparations in the run-up to the Amaranth Yatra this year.
For the Jammu division, which has recently seen a spate of terror attacks, Shah directed the security agencies to replicate the successes achieved in the Kashmir valley with their “area domination plan” and “zero terror plan”.