Srinagar: Lesser-known Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist Mudasir Ahmed Khan, alias ‘Mohd Bhai’, has been identified as the brains behind the audacious terror strike in Pulwama that left 40 CRPF personnel dead, February 14, officials said Sunday.
Piecing together evidence gathered so far, security officials said that 23-year-old Khan, an electrician with a graduate degree hailing from Pulwama district, arranged the vehicle and explosives used in the terror strike.
Khan, a resident of Mir Mohalla of Tral, joined the JeM sometime in 2017 as an overground worker and was later drawn into the fold led by Noor Mohammed Tantrey, alias ‘Noor Trali’, who is believed to have helped in the revival of the terror outfit in Kashmir Valley.
After Tantray was killed in December 2017, Khan disappeared from his home January 14, 2018 and has been active since then. Suicide attacker Adil Ahmed Dar, who blew his explosive-laden vehicle next to a bus in a CRPF convoy, had been in constant contact with Khan, they said.
The eldest son of a labourer, Khan is also believed to be involved in the terror strike at the army camp in Sunjawan in February 2018, in which six personnel and a civilian were killed. His role had also come under lens in the Lethpora attack on a CRPF camp in January 2018 that left five personnel dead.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the February 14 terror attack, had carried out searches at the residence of Khan, February 27.
It was Khan who bought the ‘Maruti Eeco’ minivan which was used in the attack from another JeM operative, Sajjad Bhat, just 10 days before the strike.
PTI