NIA Probe Links Poonch and Rajouri Attacks; Evidence Points To Coordinated Efforts By LeT Operatives In Pakistan

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has discovered that the same set of people were responsible for two terror attacks in J&K- the attack in a Rajouri village in which seven civilians were killed in January this year and the strike on an Army vehicle in Poonch district in which five soldiers were killed in April.

The NIA found that perpetrators of these two terror attacks were operating under the instructions of Lashkar-e-Taiba handlers based in Pakistan.

The first terror strike took place on the night of January 1 in Dhangri village in Rajouri, leaving five dead and several injured.

The next morning, two more persons died and many others were injured when an IED, planted in a house the previous night, exploded.

The preliminary investigation revealed that an IED was set up by two militants with the intention of targeting senior officers during their visit to the attack site the following morning. Although the case was first filed at the Rajouri police station, it was subsequently transferred to the NIA.

The NIA discovered during its investigation that the two attackers received local logistical support. After executing the attack, they went underground.

In September, the NIA apprehended two individuals, Nissar Ahmed and Mushtaq Hussain, both hailing from the Poonch district, on the charge of harbouring terrorists involved in the Dhangri killings.

"After their questioning, the NIA got to know that Nissar had been in constant touch with one of the LeT handlers, Abu Qatal alias Qatal Sindhi. Nissar, an overground worker, had been arrested earlier. He was released from jail in 2014 after spending two years (in custody) under the Public Safety Act,” a source was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

Incidentally, for the past two to three years, Nissar had been working as an "informer".

Following the attack in Dhangri, the local police had even called him.

“He told investigators that after the incident, he was told by Qatal to provide shelter to both militants and he gave Rs 75,000 to Mushtaq Hussain, asking him to construct a hideout in a cave. Nissar used to provide home cooked food to them," the source said.

Two days before the attack on Army soldiers in Poonch district in April, the terrorists asked for 22 rotis and left the hideout without informing him.

According to an official cited in the IE report, the two terrorists attacked an Army vehicle, killing five personnel of a Rashtriya Rifles unit and leaving another injured, after they left their hideout. The attack took place near Bhatta Durian on the Bhimber Gali-Surankote road in Poonch.

“After collecting several pieces of evidence, the NIA has now found that the attackers in both incidents were the same and they had carried these out on the directions of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba handlers Saifullah alias Sajid Jutt, Abu Qatal alias Qatal Sindhi and Mohammed Qasim,” the official was quoted as saying in the IE report.