New Delhi: The Jammu and Kashmir Police Wednesday made its first formal arrest in connection with the terror attack on 9 June on a tourist bus in Reasi that resulted in the deaths of nine pilgrims and left another 42 injured.
The suspect was identified as one Hakam Din, 45, of village Bandrahi in neighbouring Rajouri district and allegedly provided logistical support to terrorists involved in the attack.
“Arrested an Over Ground Worker Hakam Din, 45 of Bandrahi in Rajouri, who provided food and shelter to three attackers. Attackers stayed at his house thrice and later he dropped them at the spot of attack,” Reasi SSP Mohita Sharma said in a press conference Wednesday.
Police have detained nearly 50 people for questioning in the case. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had handed the probe into the attack to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The 53-seater bus, full of pilgrims on their way to the Vaishno Devi temple, fell into a deep gorge after coming under a barrage of bullets on the highway.
ThePrint had earlier reported that both the driver and conductor, who were from Reasi, had died of gunshot wounds along with seven other pilgrims.
A Lashkar-e-Taiba offshoot, The Resistance Front, initially took responsibility for the attack but later retracted its claim in the wake of widespread condemnation when it came to light that a toddler had also died in the attack.
The attack in Reasi was the first of three such assaults over a period of three days, which sparked fears of a return of insurgency in the Jammu division. A day after the attack in Reasi, a CRPF constable was killed during an operation against two militants who had infiltrated the Saida-Sukhal villages in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district.
Simultaneously, there was an encounter between security forces and militants near the joint temporary operating base at Chattergala in Doda district.
Another offshoot of the terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, the Kashmir Tigers, claimed responsibility for the Kathua and Doda attacks that left six security personnel injured.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)