Javed Ahmed Mir worked in water works department in Kashmir valley prior to joining JKLF

Former Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) terrorist Javed Ahmed Mir, who is also known as Javed Nalka, was arrested and later released on bail in connection with the killing of four Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel, including a Squadron Leader, in January 1990, officials said in Jammu on Friday.

He was arrested on Wednesday and produced before a CBI court, which released him on bail the same day, the officials said.

Mir, who used to work in the water works department in Kashmir valley prior to joining JKLF in late 1980s, got the alias "Nalka".

Four IAF personnel, including Squadron Leader Ravi Khanna, were killed in a terror attack on January 25, 1990 at Rawalpora, Srinagar. Around 40 others, including a woman, were injured.

Mir was named as an accused along with others, which included JKLF chief Yasin Malik, who is at present in judicial custody. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had charge-sheeted Malik, Mir and four others before an anti-terrorism court in Jammu in the same case. He was granted a stay on trial by a single bench of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court in 1995.

In 2008, Malik approached a special court saying that the trial be shifted to Srinagar as he was facing security problems in view of the Amarnath row - an agitation which had divided people of Jammu and Kashmir on religious lines over the issue of leasing out land to outsiders during the annual pilgrimage.

Malik said he gave up arms in the mid-1990s. The CBI filed objections and opposed the application, which was rejected in April 2009.

Finally, decks were cleared this April for the trial of Mr Malik in Jammu after standing counsel for the CBI, Monika Kohli, argued before the Jammu and Kashmir High Court that the agency had opposed transfer of cases to Srinagar, which was rejected.