23-year-old electrician identified as brain behind Pulwama terror attack: Officials

SRINAGAR: Officials on Sunday said that a lesser-known Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Mudasir Ahmed Khan, alias 'Mohd Bhai', was the brain behind the February 14 Pulwama terror attack, which resulted in the deaths of 40 CRPF personnel.

Talking to PTI, officials said that Khan, 23, is an electrician with a graduate degree. Khan belongs to Pulwama district and he had played an important role in arranging the vehicle and explosives used in the dastardly terror attack, which was carried out by a Jaish's suicide bomber.

Officials said that Khan is a resident of Mir Mohalla of Tral and he joined the Pakistan-based terror group in 2017 as an overground worker. Later, Noor Mohammed Tantrey, alias 'Noor Trali', drew Khan into the JeM. It is believed that Tantrey was largely responsible for reviving Jaish in Kashmir Valley.

Tantray was eliminated by security forces in an encounter in December 2017 and after Tantrey's death Khan left his home on January 14, 2018 to became an active member of the JeM.

According to officials probing the Pulwama attack, Adil Ahmed Dar, the suicide attacker who rammed his explosive-laden car into a bus in a CRPF convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar Highway on February 14, was in regular touch with Khan.

Khan did a one-year diploma course as an electrician from an Industrial Training Institute (ITI) after completing his graduation. Khan's father is a labourer. Security agencies said that Khan was also involved in the terror strike at the army camp in Sunjawan in February 2018.

It is believed that Khan was also involved in January 2018 terror attack on a CRPF camp in Lethpora. The attack had claimed the lives of five CRPF personnel.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is heading the investigation of Pulwama attack, had searched Khan's residence on February 27.

It is to be noted that the suicide bomber had used a Maruti Eeco minivan to carry out the Pulwama terror attack. Sources said that the minivan was bought 10 days before the attack by another Jaish-e-Mohammed operative.

The JeM operative, who had bought the minivan, had been identified as Sajjad Bhat. Hailing from Bijbehara in south Kashmir, Sajjad is currently absconding and security agencies believe that he has now become an active terrorist.

(with PTI inputs)