Top JeM commanders were behind Nagrota attack: NIA

Jammu, June 7 : A well-coordinated team of Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) commanders based in Pakistan and Pakistani Occupied Kashmir (POK) were behind the November 29, 2016 Nagrota terror attack case.
This was revealed by three accused, Muhammad Ashiq Baba, Tariq Ahmed Dar and Muneer-ul-Hasan Qadri, arrested by National Investigation Agency (NIA) from Kashmir.
During the interrogation of these three accused, NIA has come to know that JeM commanders Maulana Mufti Ashghar, based in Muzaffarabad in POK, Qari Zarar, based in Rawalpindi, Waseem and Abu Talha, who are incharge of launching militants into Jammu region through International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LoC), were behind this attack.
“All the three accused were in regular touch with these handlers in Pakistan through Whatsapp messages and calls, especially with Maulana Mufti Asghar, whose nephew Waqas, a JeM commander, was killed in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district during an encounter sometime back,” ADGP Alok Mittal, NIA spokesperson, said.
One of three accused, Muhammad Ashiq Baba had visited Pakistan on several occasions after obtaining visa and met these handlers there. “In order to attack security forces in J&K, Ashiq Baba visited Pakistan four times from 2015 to 2017 via Wagah border legally. He got visa from Pakstani Embassy after getting letters from Hurriyat leaders, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Abdul Gani Bhat,” the NIA spokesperson informed.