Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Dilbagh Singh Friday said a group of Pakistani terrorists carried out the ambush on an Indian Army truck in which five soldiers of the Indian army’s Rashtriya Rifles unit were martyred in Poonch on April 20.Singh said that the terror attack was executed by three to five terrorists,at the behest of their Pakistan based handlers, after conducting recee of the route with the help of local over ground workers.  After targeting the soldiers on board the army truck from a close range the terrorists also used IED to set it on fire.

“It is believed the terrorists have been hiding inside natural caves inside the thickly forested belt”, Singh told reporters  during his day-long visit to Darhal and remote Budh Khanari area in the foothills of snow-covered Pir Panjal mountains. Sharing  details of the ongoing investigations in the case DGP Dilbagh Singh said that a total number of 221 suspects have been picked and so far about half a dozen over ground workers have been arrested.

He said the operation to neutralise the terrorists involved in the attack is underway. “Six persons (of a module) have been arrested. They include those who have provided material (weapons, ammunition, explosives) to the terrorists besides shelter and food and guided them from one to another place”.

Singh said, ‘Such incidents not possible without local support’ “We are getting clues during questioning. We are working on that,” he added.

Interacting with a group of reporters in Darhal area of Rajouri where he along with senior police officers were present to monitor the ongoing search operations, DGP Dilbagh Singh the explosives and weapons came from Pakistan through drones.  A local named Nisar Ahmad of Gursai and his family were providing all support from food to shelter.

The material (explosives) had come from Pakistan through a drone. They picked up the weapons and provided them to the terrorists. Weapons, grenades and ammunition explosives were included in that,” he said.

He added that security forces are identifying more local support. “They will be working on it strongly. The terrorists choose places close to forests, where they get local support and also have escape routes into forests,” he said. ‘Nisar was fully involved along with other family members’

Giving further details about the module, Singh said Nisar has been a terrorist for a long time. “He was working as OGW of Pakistan origin LeT commander in the 1990s. He was under the scanner for  a long time.