Police have arrested Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Aslam Sheikh in the Udhampur twin blast case that took place on 28 and 29 September in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir.
According to the police, the terrorist linked with LeT had confessed of placing the IED’s in both the buses at the Ramnagar bus stand at around 3 p.m., on the directions of his handler Mohammed Amin Bhat alias Khubaib, who is a resident of Doda and presently lives in Pakistan.
Two blasts occurred in parked buses, one at Baigra Petrol pump near Domail Chowk in which two civilian were injured and the other at an old bus stand in Udhampur. Additional Director General of Police Jammu, Mukesh Singh said that during the course of the investigation, some suspects in the area were rounded up and were put to sustained questioning to get any clues regarding the blast.
“Mohamad Amin Bhat is involved in these blasts. He is settled in Pakistan. He contacted a surrender terrorist named Aslam Seikh through social media apps and motivated him to carry out attacks in Jammu province ahead of a VVIP visit. He provided him 3 sticky bombs and 4 IEDs through a drone which he received at Hiranagar sector international border near in Kathua district.”
He further said that five IEDs including three sticky bombs have been recovered. Suspect Mohammed Aslam was in contact with a Pakistan-based handler for quite some time
“On September 23, as per the direction of the handler, the suspect received a consignment from the Dayala Chak area and took it to his home on September 24. Further, he kept the said consignment at his home, on September 28 again on the direction of handler Khubaib, the suspect took two IEDs to the Ramnagar bus stand, activated and kept one each in the side cabin of Udhampur bound buses, and returned back”, Mukesh further added.
The recoveries made from the suspect include two IED’s, three sticky IED’s, five detonators, two timer devices (PTD’s), and four dry batteries.
Mohammed Aslam Sheikh is a surrendered terrorist of HM outfit and is also involved in two other cases. Handler terrorist Amin Bhat was also the mastermind of the sticky bomb blast which took place on March 9, 2022, at Slathia Chowk, Udhampur in which one person died while other 13 got injured.
“We have arrested the accused and he has confessed. Earlier, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, two Jaish terrorists were neutralised due to the alertness of the police and their module was destroyed. This time it’s a Lashkar module and police arrested the accused,” said DGP Dilbagh Singh. The Additional Director General of Police also revealed that while investigating the Udhampur bomb blasts, another module linked to Jaish was also unearthed and a terrorist was arrested.
Two blasts rocked Udhampur within 8 hours of each other. Two people were injured in the first blast that happened at 10:30 pm on Wednesday in the Domali Chowk. The injured were admitted to the Udhampur District Hospital. The blast damaged vehicles parked nearby