Afghan war veteran behind Pulwama attack?

NEW DELHI: Intelligence agencies suspect top Jaish-e-Mohammad commander Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, an Afghan war veteran and 'IED specialist', to be the prime organiser of Thursday's attack and believe the strike may have been in the works since December.

Sources said there had been considerable chatter about a 'spectacular attack' around February 9, the death anniversary of Parliament attack mastermind Afzal Guru. One of the flagged transcripts said 'bada hona chahiye, Hindustan rona chahiye (it should be big, India should cry).' These interceptions coincided with JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar sending Ghazi to the Valley, sources said.

TOI had reported on January 3 that an intelligence input suggested Ghazi had been sent to the Valley in mid-December to avenge the killings of Jaish commanders Talha and Usman, the latter a trained sniper. The two were nephews of Azhar.

Soon after Usman's killing, JeM released a statement acknowledging the death of its mujahideen and vowed revenge. Ghazi infiltrated into the Valley on December 9 and reached Pulwama by December-end, travelling mostly on foot and public transport, the input said.

Agencies are probing the role of JeM's Afzal Guru Squad in the attack. Minutes after the strike, pro-Jaish Telegram channels were abuzz with messages claiming the death of "100 Hindu Indian forces". The messages bore the salutation of the Afzal Guru Squad.

Soon, the video of a local youth from Pulwama, identified as Adil Ahmed Dar alias Waqas Commander, was released where he said the attack was revenge for killing Azhar's nephews. "I would have departed to zannat (paradise) by the time you see this... Join Jaish," he says in the video.

The squad first struck on February 10 with a grenade attack on a CRPF patrol party in Srinagar's Lal Chowk, which left seven security personnel and four civilians injured. However, officers now say it was an eyewash to divert attention from the real plan.

On February 10 last year, four members of the squad led by commander Mufti Waqas - who was killed in March - had attacked the Army's Sunjuwan camp. Five Army men and a soldier's father were killed in that attack.