Poonch attack: Six held in Jammu, including govt employee, religious preacher

Molvi Manzoor from madrassa, Markaz-ul-Maarif, was arrested from the Bathindi area of Jammu city on suspicion of having links with militants involved in the Poonch terror attack. During the interrogation and questioning of detainees, the name of Poonch-based Molvi Manzoor surfaced for allegedly having links with militants across the border.

Srinagar: While the attackers involved in the April 20 attack on an army vehicle in which five soldiers were killed in the border district of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir are still at large, a religious cleric and government employee and four others have been detained by the police for questioning in connection with the attack,

Molvi Manzoor from a madrassa, Markaz-ul-Maarif, was arrested from the Bathindi area of Jammu city on suspicion of having links with militants involved in the Poonch terror attack. During the interrogation and questioning of detainees, the name of Poonch-based Molvi Manzoor surfaced for allegedly having links with militants across the border. It may be recalled that five Army soldiers were killed and a sixth was seriously injured when their vehicle caught fire during a terror attack on an army vehicle proceeding from Bhimber Gali to Sangiot, around 90 km away from the district headquarters Poonch.

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir’s Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh said that the April 21 attack in the Bhata Durian area of Poonch was carried out with active local support and militants had used steel-coated armour-piercing bullets and IEDs to target army vehicle to inflict maximum damage.

He said that initial investigations suggest that nine to 12 foreign militants may be active in the Rajouri-Poonch area, who may have infiltrated recently. Speaking to reporters after taking stock of the ongoing search operations in the Darhal area of Rajouri district, DGP Singh, as per the local media reports, said that the Poonch attack was carried out with the active support of locals.

“Such attacks can’t be carried out without local support. The terrorists were provided shelter at one place and then provided transport to carry out the attack at another place. They had done proper recce of the area and despite the rain, they succeeded to target the army vehicle that was plying with almost zero speed due to blind turn,” the DGP said, adding that “the attackers were knowing the spot and speed of the vehicle.”