Pulwama suicide bomber trained by IC-814 hijacker and Masood Azhar's brother: Sources

The entire operation was supervised and monitored by Ibrahim Azhar, brother of JeM chief Masood Azhar.

Firemen spray water on a road to wash away the blood stains at the site of suicide bomb attack at Lathepora Awantipora in Pulwama district of south Kashmir, Thursday, February 14, 2019. (PTI Photo)

Twenty-year-old Adil Ahmad Dar, a resident of village Lethipora in Kashmir, rammed a car full of explosives into the CRPF convoy killing over 40 jawans on February 14. The incident has led to the escalation of tension between India and Pakistan.

Dar's selection was made via drawing lots in the presence of Pulwama attack masterminds and top Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) operatives Kamran and Abdul Abdul Rasheed alias Ghazi. He was later trained for driving the vehicle carrying explosives and conduct dry practices for bomb detonation by Kamran, who was killed on February 18 by Armed forces.

READ: Women and children carried RDX, explosives used in Pulwama terror attack

It has now emerged Kamran was a mere operational commander in south Kashmir and had been active for a year. 

The entire operation and Dar's training was supervised and monitored by Ibrahim Azhar, brother of JeM chief Masood Azhar and father of Mohammad Usman, who was killed in an encounter with Indian security forces on October 30 last year. 

Ibrahim's claim to fame has been hijacking the Indian Airlines Flight 814 and successfully negotiating JeM chief's release from prison in 1999. 

The aircraft carrying 176 passengers and 15 crew members was hijacked by five militants who negotiated the release of three terrorists – Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh who abducted and murdered journalist Daniel Pearl, and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar who was involved in training Islamic terrorists in Kashmir. 

Kamran is believed to have facilitated the arrival and the departure of Ibrahim across the border. He was also involved in arranging the Over the Ground Workers and local resources for the bomb-making and transportation of the items from across the border. 

Sources say that women and children were majorly involved in carrying the items. 

Ibrahim has now fled back to Pakistan, added sources. 

The initial plan was to carry out the attack on February 9, Afzal Guru's death anniversary. The plan was however scrapped due to heavy snowfall and later shifted to February 14. 

The device was prepared on-site by Pakistan-based IED experts for several days.

Apart from Kamran, two more Pakistani-based terrorists Mohammad Omar and Mohammad Ismael were involved in the attack. Omar is reportedly the nephew of JeM found Masood Azhar's nephew while Ismael had attacked the residence of retired SP Sheikh Ghulam Mohammad in Budgam in October last year. 

On February 14, over 2000 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel travelling in a convoy of 78 vehicles on Jammu-Srinagar highway was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethpora (near Awantipora) in the Pulwama district. The attack resulted in the death of at least 40 CRPF personnel and injured many others. The attack was later claimed by JeM.