JAMMU: Authorities in Jammu issued a high security alert after a 21-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist — who was out on bail — disappeared from his residence in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, officials said Friday. “He had carried out a grenade attack at Jammu bus stand in March 2019, killing two civilians and injuring 31 others,” said an official.
Jammu Police distributed posters with the missing terrorist’s image in prominent locations across the region, urging the public to report any information regarding his whereabouts.The informer’s identity will be kept secret. The heightened alert aims to prevent any potential threats and ensure public safety.
On March 7, 2019, a powerful explosion ripped through the crowded General Bus Stand in Jammu, in which Mohammad Riyaz (32) of Anantnag’s Mattan village and Mohammad Sharik, a teen from Uttarakhand, were killed.
The Hizb terrorist was just 16 years old when he was arrested from Nagrota while he was trying to escape back to Kashmir. At the time of his arrest, his Aadhaar card and other IDs, including school records, showed his date of birth as March 12, 2003. During interrogation, he revealed that he had been tasked with carrying out the terror attack by proscribed outfit Hizbul Mujahideen and paid Rs 50,000 to execute the strike. Fayaz, a self-styled chief of the outfit’s Kulgam unit, had passed on a grenade to an overground worker, Muzammil, to throw at a crowded place anywhere in Jammu, he claimed. After Muzammil developed cold feet, he was instructed to deliver the grenade to the teen, whose code name was “Chotu”, he told investigators.
The teen was later granted bail because of his juvenile status at the time of the attack. The J&K Juvenile Justice Board had even pulled up some national and local media houses for publishing his name in violation of the Juvenile Justice Act.
His arrest and subsequent bail indicated terror outfits’ tactics of employing underage youth to throw grenades as they can escape stringent punishment owing to their young age.
Jammu Police distributed posters with the missing terrorist’s image in prominent locations across the region, urging the public to report any information regarding his whereabouts.The informer’s identity will be kept secret. The heightened alert aims to prevent any potential threats and ensure public safety.
On March 7, 2019, a powerful explosion ripped through the crowded General Bus Stand in Jammu, in which Mohammad Riyaz (32) of Anantnag’s Mattan village and Mohammad Sharik, a teen from Uttarakhand, were killed.
The Hizb terrorist was just 16 years old when he was arrested from Nagrota while he was trying to escape back to Kashmir. At the time of his arrest, his Aadhaar card and other IDs, including school records, showed his date of birth as March 12, 2003. During interrogation, he revealed that he had been tasked with carrying out the terror attack by proscribed outfit Hizbul Mujahideen and paid Rs 50,000 to execute the strike. Fayaz, a self-styled chief of the outfit’s Kulgam unit, had passed on a grenade to an overground worker, Muzammil, to throw at a crowded place anywhere in Jammu, he claimed. After Muzammil developed cold feet, he was instructed to deliver the grenade to the teen, whose code name was “Chotu”, he told investigators.
The teen was later granted bail because of his juvenile status at the time of the attack. The J&K Juvenile Justice Board had even pulled up some national and local media houses for publishing his name in violation of the Juvenile Justice Act.
His arrest and subsequent bail indicated terror outfits’ tactics of employing underage youth to throw grenades as they can escape stringent punishment owing to their young age.
Source Agencies
