'He wanted to become a cleric, no idea why he choose this path', says Father of suicide bomber

New Delhi, Feb 15: Adil Ahmad Dar, the 22-year-old terrorist who allegedly carried out the Pulwama terror attack on Thursday, 14 February, in which at least 37 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed, was trained for this specific "operation".

Accused of carrying out one of the deadliest terrorist attacks the state has ever witnessed, Dar lived just 10 kilometres away from the attack spot in Gundibagh.

Who was Adil Ahmad Dar?

Adil Ahmad Dar was the son of Ghulam Hassan Dar who had studied till Class 12 and then took a course in religious studies. Dar started to work at a sawmill owned by a neighbour. In March last year, he left his family and joined militancy in the Valley. His father, Ghulam Hassan Dar, is a small-time vendor.

Dar is one of the three brothers who wanted to become a cleric and had already memorised eight chapters of the Quran.

However, Dar was not the first member of his family to join militancy. His cousin, Manzoor Rashid Dar, son of Abdul Rashid Dar, joined the Lashkar-e-Taiba in 2016. He survived for only 11 days before being killed in a gunfight on June 30, 2016. Tauseef Ahmad, other son of Abdul Rashid Dar also went to join militancy in March last year. Four days after he went missing, Adil left home too. While Tauseef returned after 14 days, Adil did not.

According to Scroll, Dar's family had last seen him on the afternoon of March 19, 2018. He had been working as mason's assistant at a construction site. That afternoon, Ghulam Hassan Dar said, his son came home for lunch, took his cycle and left home. "Days later, a photo of Adil wielding a gun went viral on social media," said his father. "We had no idea he would choose this path."

According to police officials, Dar was recruited to Jaish's fidayeen squad after the outfit's previous fidayeen militant, Fardeen Ahmad Khanday, was killed in 2018.

On the evening of February 14, Jaish-e-Mohammad released a pre-recorded 10-minute long video statement. It featured 19-year-old Adil Ahmed Dar, also known as Waqas Commando, from Gundibagh, in South Kashmir's Pulwama district. He said that he was directly recruited to Jaish's fidayeen squad. "Fidayeen" is an Arabic term that means "those who sacrifice themselves". Dar declared, "By the time this video reaches you, I will be in Heaven."

According to Central Reserve Police Force figures released on Thursday evening, 37 of its men were killed. Unofficial figures put the toll at 42 so far. At least five personnel of the paramilitary force were also injured.