Udhampur attack mastermind Abu Qasim carried out similar attacks in the past: J&K Police

Jammu: A south Kashmir-based Lashkar-e-Taiba commander, Abu Qasim, who masterminded the attack on an army convey in which eight Indian army soldiers were killed in June 2013, is allegedly the mastermind of Wednesday’s attack in Udhampur, that left two BSF soldiers dead and 10 others injured. Eight soldiers were killed and 16 others injured when two militants attacked an army convoy on 24 June, 2013 near Hyderpora on the city’s outskirts, a day before former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi were to visit the troubled region.

Abu Qasim, Lashkar-e-Taiba’s divisional commander for south Kashmir, is believed to be operating in the forests of Kulgam and Shopian, and has carried out similar attacks in the past, according to intelligence sources. The Jammu and Kashmir Police has announced a bounty on his head.

Mohammad Naved has reportedly told investigators in Udhampur that they met Pakistani national Qasim in south Kashmir’s Kulgam forests, where they were instructed to board a truck and proceed towards Jammu. The police had earlier said the terrorists belonged to Pakistan’s Faisalabad area, and had sneaked into Jammu and Kashmir around 12 days ago.

According to sources, Naved — allegedly Pakistani, although the country has denied the claim — who along with Mohammad Nomen, the terrorist who was killed in the attack, had first crossed the LoC in Kupwara, but returned to their launchpad in PoK after their contact failed to receive them. Finally, according to sources in intelligence agencies, Naved and three others infiltrated from Uri in north Kashmir, and travelled to the Kulgam area where Qasim received them.

“They must have stayed in the forest areas of Kulgam before boarding a truck heading to Jammu. But primary information suggests that the two attackers stayed in the tourist resort area of Patnitop, before launching the attack on Wednesday,” sources said and added, “The truck driver must have dropped them a kilometre from Narsunala, the site of the attack.”

Naved was captured in Chirdi village by local residents when he took two locals hostage. When he was caught, he denied belonging to any terror outfit, and later told villagers that he “enjoyed killing Hindus”.

“I am from Pakistan and my partner was killed in the firing but I escaped. Had I been killed, it would have been Allah’s doing. There is fun in doing this … I came to kill Hindus,” Naved had said.

A five-member National Investigation Agency (NIA) team from Delhi has already arrived in Jammu to question him. The NIA will be taking over the investigation of the Udhampur terror attack.

During the course of his interrogation, Naved also revealed that he was part of a four-member group that sneaked into the Kashmir Valley. After Nomen was killed during the attack, Naved had tried to escape to more densely populated civilian areas.