Arrested IS woman suicide bomber wanted to trigger explosion on R-Day celebrations in J&K

18-year-old Sadiya Anwar Shaikh, who hails from Pune, is suspected to have been radicalised by the IS.

Image Credit: The pic of the alleged IS suicide bomber has been provided by authorities

Srinagar: In a major breakthrough, the security forces have arrested a woman, alleged to be a suicide bomber associated with the global terrorist outfit Islamic State (IS), from South Kashmir last night.

Giving more information, the J&K Police today said, ''The arrested woman, 18, hails from Pune.''

"She was arrested last night following credible inputs from the intelligence sources," Additional Director General of Police Munir Khan said.

Khan, however, refused to divulge more details about the arrest.

"We will be talking to her (suspect) and we will be talking to our sister agencies. We will be covering every other lead to know what the facts are. After a proper investigation, we will come to any conclusion," Khan, who is also holding the post of Inspector General of Police (Kashmir Range), said.

Central intelligence agencies had alerted the state police that a woman from Pune, identified as Sadiya Anwar Shaikh, had shifted herself to Kashmir Valley and was in regular touch with ISIS operatives, the officials said.

A high alert was sounded in the Kashmir Valley two days ahead of Republic Day and a message was circulated that "there is a strong input" that an 18-year-old non-Kashmiri woman might "cause a suicide bomb explosion" near or inside the Republic Day parade in Kashmir.

"All are directed to please ensure that frisking of ladies at the (venues) is done meticulously and with utmost caution so as to thwart the designs of ANEs (anti-national elements)," the message, circulated on 23 January, read.

Shaikh had been earlier interrogated by the Pune Anti-Terrorism Squad in 2015, when it came to notice that she had been radicalised after coming in contact with the ISIS supporters abroad.

She was planning to travel to Syria, the ATS had then claimed. 

The woman, a Class XI student at a Pune college, was subsequently sent for a de-radicalisation programme by the ATS. 

(With PTI inputs)