ISI plan to plant bombs in Jammu foiled; 16 nabbed

ISI plan to plant bombs in Jammu foiled; 16 nabbed
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

UDHAMPUR, DECEMBER 12: The Jammu and Kashmir police arrested 16 militants from various places in Udhampur district during the last few days and claimed to have foiled a major plan of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) to cause explosions in the state's winter capital.

Pointing out that the militants had planned to plant bombs in vehicles and then park them in crowded areas, the DIG for Udhampur-Doda Range, S K Mishra, said that one such vehicle was also seized by the police. The two Hizbul Mujahideen groups headed by Shakeel Ansari and Farooq Ansari in Doda and Udhampur districts had joined hands to cause explosions in Jammu city.

Giving details, S K Mishra, said that lid was taken off the ISI plan following the arrest of four militants including Sanjay Gandhi by the police at Kanthan bridge near Arnas area last week. They were going to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) for arms training, he said and identified the other accomplices of Sanjay as Mohammad Suleman, Mohammad Rafiq (both residents ofMarmat) and Mohammad Asdullah alias Mohd Aslam of Billawar. Asdullah, code named as Idress, was acting as their guide.

Asdullah was an important link between Farooq Ansari and Shakeel Ansari, as he had been operating in Gulabgarh (Udhampur) and Marmat (Doda) since 1997. He was involved in throwing a grenade at Reasi bus stand on November 10 injuring nine, besides blowing a bulldozer at Lohang (Bani) in Kathua district.