Pulwama: Bomb maker from PoK, mastermind an Afghanistan trained terrorist

Srinagar, Feb 16: Investigations being conducted following the Pulwama attack have revealed that the person who assembled the bomb is from Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

Sources tell OneIndia that the Jaish bomb expert managed to slip out and reach Muzzaffarbad, PoK after he had assembled it in the car, which was detonated before the CRPF bus on Thursday.

Investigations suggest that nearly 80 kilograms of RDX was used in the attack. The probe agencies are still trying to ascertain as how to so much explosive was fitted into a vehicle.

At first it was said that the vehicle used by the bomber, Adil Dar was a Scorpio. However further investigations suggest that it could have been either an Alto or Eeco. The investigators came to this conclusion after they found a bumper of a Maruti from the attack site.

While officials of the National Investigation Agency and the National Security Guards are investigating the case along with the Jammu and Kashmir police, the Intelligence is assisting in gathering of information relating to the modus operandi and also the masterminds of the attack.

While the bomb maker managed to get out of Kashmir, intelligence agencies say that the mastermind of the attack is still in the state. The mastermind identified as Mohammad Umair is still operating in the Pulwama area. An Intelligence Bureau official informed that he had overseen the entire attack and was also the one who masterminded it.

Umair is the nephew of Jaish-e-Mohamamd chief, Maulana Masood Azhar. He was sent into Kashmir after another nephew of Azhar, who went by the name Usman Haider was killed in an encounter. It may be recalled that Talha Rashid, also a nephew of the Jaish chief was killed in an encounter with the security forces in 2016.

According to officials, Umair was trained in Afghanistan. An officer says that this explains why the nature of the attack was such. Vehicle ramming with bombs are reported from countries such as Afghanistan and Syria. In the aftermath of the attack, security officials had raised concerns about this style of attack and warned that it could become a norm.

Investigating officers say that while the mastermind and bomb maker has been identified, they are looking for the over ground workers, who aided the bomber with information and precise logistics. Dar was given precise information about the movement of the convoys.

The moment the convoys were spotted, he entered from the left side of bus number five and detonated the vehicle as a result of 40 jawans were martyred.