Major attack averted: IGP

Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar on Thursday said that they had inputs about possible suicide attack and that helped to foil the car bomb attack in Pulwama.

Addressing press reporters, Kumar said that over 40 kgs of explosives material was laden in the car and it was aimed to target security forces. “Timely action jointly by police, army and CRPF averted major tragedy,” he said. “It (planning) was jointly done by HM and JeM.”

The Kashmir police chief said that there were inputs from last week of Ramadhan. “On Wednesday inputs matured and special nakas were established. Joint parties stopped the vehicle at two places and fired warming shots. At Ayegund area of Rajpora, Pulwama, militants left the vehicle. Joint parties found suspicious vehicle and Bomb Disposal Squad was called in,” the IGP said.

He said that in case of explosion, it would have caused lot of damage. He said they have identified militants that include Adil of HM and two other carders of JeM.

“There is desperation among militants as they suffered losses in recent past,” IGP told the Greater Kashmir on the sidelines of the press conference.

He said top commanders of different militant outfits including Hizbul Mujahideen’s Riyaz Naikoo and Junaid Sehrai were killed in anti-militancy operations in recent past.