Banihal attack: Police claims arrest of two militants, recovery of weapons
Police on Friday claimed to have arrested two of the three militants who had attacked Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) personnel and snatched their weapons in Banihal on Wednesday night.
One jawan was killed and his senior injured after militants attacked them when they were returning to the base camp near Navyuga Engineering base camp. The incident took place on Wednesday in Jammu’s Ramban district.
The two apprehended militants have been identified as Arif and Ghazanfar and weapons have been recovered from them, police said.
“Gazanfer and Arif are students in Government Degree College Anantnag and the third one was a helper in a construction company,” said IG Jammu Dr SD Singh.
Singh said that the efforts are on to nab the third militant who is on the run. The third militant was identified as Aqib Ahmad of Kaskoot village in Banihal.
“Our parties are on the job,” he said.
Two service rifles, including an AK assault rifle and an INSAS rifle, which were snatched during the attack, have been recovered from their possession.
Addressing a press briefing in Jammu, Singh said that the preliminary investigation reveals that the militants were motivated and radicalized in the Valley.
“They were motivated and radicalised when they were in Anantnag.”
However, the arrested militants had not formally joined any militant outfit and according to the police, they wanted to join the militant ranks after this attack.
“They wanted to join the militant ranks, but with the timely action of the police we were able to capture them,” Singh said.
The police said that the militants had procured a pistol from the valley with which they carried out the attack.
When asked about the earlier confusion about the fratricide and militant attack, Singh said that they had already stated that it was an open case.
“Every crime has many leads and there are many possibilities. After examining the initial forensic details, we concluded that this is not a case of fratricide.”
The attack was carried out at around 8 PM on Wednesday and was targeted against the 14th battalion of SSB, posted in Banihal town of Ramban.
The SSB party which was guarding the strategic Banihal tunnel, the 8.45-km stretch which connects Ramban to Qazigund was attacked by the militants in the evening killing one on the spot and injuring his senior.
The deceased jawan was identified as head constable Ramparvesh Yadav. Another jawan ASI Sham Singh, who was seriously injured, was rushed to the Ramban district hospital for treatment.
KV Correspondent
