Police claims arrest of JeM militant in Tral
Pulwama: Security forces claimed to have apprehended a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), militant from the forest area of Tral in Pulwama district during a search operation.
Sources said that the arrsted militant has been identified as Gulzar Ahmad Dar, who had gone missing last month and had reportedly joined the militant ranks.
A joint team of Army, Police and CRPF had launched an operation in Tral forests on Friday morning after some gunshots were heard in the morning.
Gulzar is a resident of Nagbal, Tral and was missing from 21 September 2017.
Pertinently, forces had to resort to aerial firing to disperse the protesters who had blocked the road leading to Tral forests, where gunshots were heard early morning.
Local sources said that youth blocked the road leading to Channad forest of Pastuna village of Tral area to stop more reinforcement leading to cordon site.
Sources added that as forces reached the spot where the road was blocked, they fired several shots in the air to disperse the protesters.
Meanwhile, a police spokesman said that police arrested a JeM militant who lobbed a grenade at bus stand Tral in which three civilians lost their lives and 30 others were injured.
“Acting on a specific information, Awantipora police along with 42 RR and 180 Bn CRPF launched a cordon and search operation at village Naristan Tral. During the search operation one militant Gulzar Ahmad Dar son of Ghulam Nabi resident of Nagbal Tral was apprehended. One Chinese pistol was recovered from his possession,” the spokesman added.
The said militant had joined JeM terror outfit after hurling a grenade upon motorcade of R&B Minister at bus stand Tral in which 03 civilians were killed and 30 persons including 07 CRPF and 02 police personnel were injured.
During sustained questioning, he admitted that he hurled the grenade on the instructions of JeM commander Mufti Vikas resident of PAK and Noor Mohammad Tantray resident of Darganie Gund Tral.
Pertinent to mention that the said militant was earlier active with JeM outfit in 2014 and he has lobbed a grenade at bus stand Tral in which 05 persons lost their lives on 5th of December 2014. A case FIR number 121/2014 under section 307/RPC, 2/5 Exp. Substance already stands registered in Police Station Tral. He was arrested and released after 2 years in January 2017.
During further questioning, he admitted that his four associates (all foreigners) are hiding in a hideout in Pastuna forest Tral. Accordingly, a search operation was launched in the forest area. During searches, militants hiding in the hideout fired upon the search party. The fire was retaliated but taking advantage of the dense forest, they managed to escape from the hideout. The search operation is going on, the spokesman added.
KV Correspondent
