Srinagar: The Jaish-e-Mohammad affiliate who rammed his vehicle with a bus that was part of a CRPF convoy at Pulwama district’s Lethpora village along Jammu-Srinagar highway on Thursday was categorized in police records as category-C militant.
Adil Ahmad Dar, a resident of Kakapora village in southern Kashmir district took up arms last year, was only the second Kashmiri suicide bomber to detonate himself, the first being Afaq Shah, a resident of Srinagar who had adopted similar modus operandi by ramming his car into the army’s 15 Corps headquarters near Badamibagh in 2000.
Sources said that such type of attack, reminiscent of ambushes in Afghanistan or Syria, has been very rarely used
Adil, according to JeM, rammed his car full of explosives into a bus that was part of the CRPF convoy of over 2,500 personnel travelling on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway.
Before joining militant ranks, Adil, who had studied till Class X, used to work at a bandsaw mill in the locality. Before carrying the Thursday’s attack that left 45 CRPF men dead and gravely wounded 38 other personnel had recorded a 10-minute video which was released by the HeM after the attack.
“When you will watch this video I would be enjoying the paradise. Oh Kashmiri people, salute to you that despite seeing lakhs of dead bodies, you did not lose heart,” Adil is seen saying in the video clip.
Police said the reason he had been listed as a C-category militant by police was that he had not been involved in any big attack before Thursday’s attack.
“I joined the Jaish-e-Mohammad fidayeen squad last year and it is time to realize the aim,” he said in the video clip.