Srinagar: Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) had the main role in planning the car bomb attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, which security forces thwarted on Thursday, said Kashmir police, adding that Hizbul Mujahideen assisted the JeM.
"We had received information that a militant of Jaish-e-Mohammed is going to carry out the operation. So we suspect that Adil (occupant of the car carrying IED) - a Hizbul Mujahideen militant is also in touch with Jaish-e-Mohammed," said Vijay Kumar, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir.
"He (Adil) intended to target vehicles of security forces. We are calling expert teams from the outside. We suspect that the vehicle was carrying 40-45 kg of explosives. Jaish-e-Mohammed has the main role in this. Hizbul Mujahideen assisted them," he added.
On being asked if this attack was similar to February 2019 bombing attack on the CRPF convoy, Kumar said, "Definitely it would have targeted security force police's vehicle only."
Kumar stated that Pulwama police was regularly receiving information that Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen were together planning this attack. They had placed IED in a Santro car.
"Our forces gave a warning fire at the Naka following which the militant sped away from there. The next Naka party also gave a warning fire following which the militant managed to escape in the darkness. On searching our forces recovered the vehicle carrying IED, with the same number the police forces were suspecting. The explosive was defeated in a technical manner by CRPF and Army this morning and averted a major attack," said Kumar.
The security forces on Thursday successfully prevented a massive 2019 Pulwama-like car bomb attack in Jammu and Kashmir after they stopped a vehicle carrying over 20 kg of an improvised explosive device (IED), enough to carry out a major attack in Pulwama.
In February last year, 40 CRPF personnel were killed in a JeM-orchestrated terror attack in South Kashmir's Pulwama district. The incident took place when a CRPF convoy, consisting of around 2,500 personnel, was attacked by a suicide bomber who rammed a car laden with explosives into one of the buses on the Jammu-Srinagar highway.
Inputs from ANI
Read:| J-K: Major IED blast averted by timely input, action by security forces in Pulwama
