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Updated: Apr 30, 2019 12:51 IST

Police on Monday said it has arrested a PhD scholar along with five other terrorists for launching an abortive suicide car bomb attack on a CRPF convoy along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway last month.

Police claimed that the attack was a handiwork of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen. “There were modules of Hizbul Mujahideen, one led Dr Saifullah of Pulwama and other by Rayees Khan of Shopian, who jointly worked on the car bomb fabrication. The mastermind behind the attack was a Pakistan-based terrorist Munna Bihari. A terrorist of JeM, Shahjahan, was also actively involved in the fabrication of the IED. The fabrication of IED was done under the command of Munna Bihari,” Jammu IGP MK Sinha said.

“We have also arrested the other accomplices of Owais Amin including Umar Shafi, Aqib Shah and Shahid Wani all residents of Shopian, and Wasim Ahmed Dar of Pulwama. Another member of the Hizbul, Hilal Matoo was arrested from Central University Punjab where he was pursuing his PhD degree,” he added. Amin was arrested on April 1 from Teethar in Banihal when he was trying to escape after unsuccessfully targeting a CRPF convoy with a car bomb near the Jawahar Tunnel — the gateway to the Valley on March 31.

Also Read | Car explodes on J-K highway, Pulwama-like terror plot feared

Meanwhile. the group behind the fatal attacks on an RSS leader Chandrakant Sharma and a BJP leader Ajeet Parihar and his brother in April and November, respectively, in Kishtwar district has been identified and efforts are on to arrest its members.

(With inputs from PTI)