Udhampur attack: 'Pakistani terrorist killed in encounter was Hafiz Saeed's guard'

New Delhi/Srinagar: Pakistani terrorist Mohammad Naved alias Usman, who was caught following an attack on a BSF convoy in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, continues to sing during interrogation by National Investigation Agency (NIA) sleuths.

Zee Media has accessed the interrogation report of Naved which says that the terrorist was in constant touch with Abu Dujana, the number two in the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) hierarchy in Kashmir.

Naved has been in Kashmir since June and had enough local support. He even spent almost 40 days in a LeT hideout at Khrew in south Kashmir.

Disclosing his journey from Pakistan to India, Naved told interrogators that he started from his launching pad at Halan in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May 27 along with Nouman, Okasha and Mohammad Bhai of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in northwest Pakistan.

Nouman was, in fact, a personal security guard of Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed.

However, there are conflicting reports on when the group started from PoK. As per another report, the group launched from Kota in PoK on June 2-3. That area is roughly located around Tanghdar area on the Indian side.

As per the initial account available, the group reached the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara on June 2 and cut the fence to enter the Indian territory.

The group then switched on a GPS device to find their way and walked 18 kilometres to reach Baba Reshi at Tangmarg in Baramulla district on June 7. Here, they were received by one Ubaid, a Pakistani militant of the LeT.

On June 9, the group travelled to Awantipura near Chursoo and stayed there in a house for four days.

All the four then split and Naved went to Khrew area of Pulwama district. He remained there for almost over a month before moving to Kakapora area of the same district. He stayed there for almost six to seven days at two different locations.

From Kakapora, Naved was sent to Khudwani area of Kulgam district in south Kashmir. This is the last district on Srinagar-Jammu Highway that falls in the Kashmir Valley.

In Khudwani, Naved met the LeT chief for central and south Kashmir named Abu Qasim - a Pakistani militant commander who has been active for many years and has so far managed to escape security forces despite being involved in many encounters.

It was in Khudwani that Naved re-grouped with Nouman with whom he had split in Baba Reshi.

The terrorists then left for Pulwama on a small truck on July 23 and were intercepted by police but managed to escape.

Naved was given the task to carry out the fidayeen attack in Udhampur by Abu Qasim.

On August 4, Naved and Nouman travelled to Ramban in a tipper from where they bought two bags and eatables.

They then stayed there for the night at a place called Tamatar Mode, cooked their own food and put all their weapons in the bags.

In the morning, the duo left for Udhampur on a truck with number JK13 2586. They reached a place called Narsu on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, where they entered a dhaba to have tea. This is a famous spot for passengers to have Kashmiri tea on the highway.

The duo waited there for 30 minutes before launching the attack – the reason behind this as per directions of Qasim was to give ample time to the vehicle that carried them to Udhampur to get out of reach.

Hours later, Nouman was killed in the attack while Naved was caught with help from three locals whom he had taken hostage.

Meanwhile, authorities are likely to take Naved to all the places where he claims to have resided in Kashmir and physically identify them. This is to ensure that what he has said during interrogation is correct.

Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Police have picked up the vehicle which was used to transport Naved and his associates from north Kashmir to south Kashmir in June soon after they infiltrated into India from across the LoC.

The vehicle was a red colour tipper and the driver was from Pulwama. The vehicle was picked up by the police in the middle of June only.

The police also managed to recover a GPS device from a house soon after the militants inside managed to flee in June. The police suspect LeT commander Qasim was also there along with Naved and Nouman.

The police have also identified the truck driver who brought the duo to Udhampur. However, the driver is currently absconding along with the truck.

Also, a fresh intelligence alert says that another terrorist group's presence in Udhampur cannot be ruled out. As per the alert, terrorists have targeted NH1A so that they can easily escape after carrying out the attack, reports Zee Media's Manish Shukla.

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