The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Tuesday said they have arrested four terrorists and their associates in connection with a blast, which left a soldier dead in the region’s Shopian district last week. They added an improvised explosive device (IED) was used to target a vehicle that carried soldiers for an anti-insurgency operation.
In a tweet, inspector general of police Vijay Kumar said the case has been cracked and that it turned out to be a terror attack. “All the four terrorist/associates have been arrested. Congratulations to team Shopian.”
Three soldiers on their way to the operation were injured in the blast on Thursday last. Naik Praveen, who was grievously injured, later succumbed to his injuries on Friday. He belonged to the Tehri Garhwal region of Uttarakhand and is survived by his wife and six-year-old son. The explosion took place inside the private vehicle hired for the operation.
Emron Musavi, the public relations officer (defence), last week said that the blast was very likely to be from either an IED or a grenade, or a battery malfunctioning in the vehicle as police were probing the nature and source of the explosion.