Captured ultra had infiltrated in June

Search on for two more militants in Pir Panjal area

The Pakistani terrorist, Mohammed Naved, who was captured in the Udhampur district of Jammu & Kashmir on Wednesday infiltrated into the Valley in the first week of June along with a group of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants.

Sources told Deccan Herald that Naved stayed in Tangmarg area of north Kashmir till the last week of July before moving to south Kashmir’s Pulwama district where they were received by LeT commander Talib Hussain Shah alias Umar, who was killed in the gun battle with the Army on Thursday.

“From Tangmarg, some over ground workers (OGWs) helped Naved and five other terrorists to reach Pulwama. Before travelling to Pulwama, the group stayed in Srinagar for a short time where they received money from an unknown person,” sources said.

Naved has told his interrogators that he and the other terrorists cut the fence between Nogam and Gulmarg to enter the Valley on June 2. Earlier, he had given contradictory statements on the date of entering India.

“The captured militant had received 21-days training in handling arms in Muzaffarabad (PoK) in February this year,” sources said.

Quoting details from Naved’s interrogation, a senior police officer told Deccan Herald that the terror group had been given instructions from handlers across the border to carry out multiple attacks on security force convoys on the national highway.

“While Naved and other terrorist who was killed in Udhampur travelled in a truck to reach the encounter site, two other militants, who were part of another group, are still untraceable,” he said. The officer said the other two militants armed with automatic rifles boarded an oil tanker in Banihal area of Jammu region after the Udhampur attack and crossed into south Kashmir to hide in Pir Panjal forest.

The tanker driver, Shanker Sharma, had on Thursday reported to the police that two militants dressed in army uniform and armed with automatic rifles boarded his vehicle at Banihal and crossed the Jawahar Tunnel towards Kashmir and went inside the Pir Panjal forests.