NIA team collects materials required for forensic evaluation

80 kg high-grade RDX used by Jaish terrorist; Seven detained by police in connection

16/02/2019

SRINAGAR, Feb 15: A team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) along with explosives and forensic experts, on Friday, collected materials required for forensic evaluation of scene of crime at Pulwama's Awantipora where 40 CRPF jawans were killed on Thursday in a terror attack.
Considering the status, the team would continue with sifting of material on Saturday too. The outcome would be made known after analysis is over, said NIA.
The team reached Awantipora earlier on Friday.
Around 40 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday when their convoy was targeted in Pulwama district on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.
The convoy comprised 78 buses in which around 2500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar.
A bus, in which 42 CRPF personnel were travelling, was extensively damaged in the blast, was followed by firing on the vehicle.
Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out by a suicide bomber.
Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “the blood of Indians is boiling” and issued a clear warning to Pakistan, declaring that the “guardians” of the perpetrators of the Pulwama terror attack will be “definitely punished”.
Asserting that a “befitting reply” will be given, he said, “Our neighbouring country forgets that this (India) is a country with new intent and new policy.”
He said the terror organisations and their “guardians” have committed a “grave mistake” by carrying out the attack and that the Indian armed forces have been given the go-ahead to hit back at the “time”, “place” and “form” of their choosing.
“Haivaniyat ka poora hisab liya jayega... Muh todd jawab diya jayega (the inhuman act will be fully avenged. A befitting reply will be given),” Modi said.
Police has detained seven persons from Pulwama district in south Kashmir in connection with the deadly terror attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel near Awantipora, officials said on Friday.
The youths were detained from Pulwama and Awantipora during the night on suspicion of links with the planning of the suicide attack, the first-of-its-kind in which a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist detonated an explosive-laden vehicle near a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) bus.
A National Investigation Agency (NIA) team, along with explosives and forensic experts, collected the materials required for a forensic evaluation of the scene of crime. Considering the status of the scene of crime, the team will continue with sifting of the material on Saturday as well. The outcome will be made known once the analysis is over.
The overall planning of the terror strike is believed to be done by a Pakistani national, Kamran of JeM, who has been operating and moving in the Pulwama, Awantipora and Tral areas of south Kashmir.
The "fidayeen" (suicide attacker) was identified as Adil Ahmad from Kakapora in Pulwama. He had joined the JeM in 2018.
According to initial investigations, the plan for the terror strike was hatched in the Midoora area of Tral.
The police are also looking for another local JeM overground worker, who was instrumental in arranging the explosives.
Meanwhile, High-grade RDX explosive, weighing about 80 kilogram, was used in a suicide attack on a CRPF bus that killed 40 security personnel in one of the deadliest terror strikes on security forces in the Kashmir Valley in three decades, officials said on Friday.
The attack in Pulwama has prompted the CRPF to tweak the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the movement of its convoys in the future, by providing additional security personnel in the buses that transport troops to and from the Kashmir valley.

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