JAMMU: J&K Police on Sunday claimed to have arrested an Al-Badr affiliate, a week after another member of the proscribed outfit was arrested with an improvised explosive device from Jammu. This is the seventh successive arrest by Jammu Police under its anti-terror operations since February 6, including one arrest from Bihar.
“The arrested Rah Hussain Bhat of Pulwama is an overground worker and motivator of the outfit, who was involved in providing logistics support to terrorists. He was in direct contact with the Pakistani handlers involved in the terror plot to carry out an IED attack in Jammu,” IGP (Jammu Zone) Mukesh Singh said.
On February 14, nursing student Sohail Bashit was arrested from Jammu bus stand with 6.5kg explosive material. On February 6, a joint team of Jammu and Anantnag Police had arrested Lashkar-e-Mustafa commander Hidayatullah Malik alias Hasnain. Later, based on Malik’s disclosure, a joint team of Bihar and J&K Police arrested his associate Javed Alam Ansari from Bihar’s Chhapra. On February 13, police arrested Zahoor Ahmad Rather alias Sahil of The Resistance Front — involved in the murders of three BJP functionaries and a cop in Kulgam — from Samba district.
On February 17, J&K Police apprehended Sher Ali of Dhargo — the main coordinator and facilitator of terror activities for several terror outfits, including infiltration of terrorists and smuggling of arms, ammunition and narcotics into India — from Jammu airport. The same day, the National Investigation Agency had arrested Taraq Hussain Giri, a terrorist harbourer and logistics provider of Hizbul Mujahideen, from Kishtwar.