Prime Suspect In Pulwama Terror Attack: Mohammed Umair, Nephew Of JeM Boss Masood Azhar, Say Intelligence Reports

Top intelligence officers and security experts have zeroed in on Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar’s nephew Mohammed Umair as the prime suspect believed to have masterminded the horrific Pulwama attack which killed more than 40 CRPF jawans on Thursday (14 February 2019), reports Hindustan Times.

Umair is the son of Azhar’s elder brother Athar Ibrahim. He is believed to be currently operating in the Pulwama area in South Kashmir after having undergone terrorist training in Afghanistan.

Although the suicide bomber who carried out the attack on the CRPF convoy is a local Kashmiri from Pulwama by the name of Adil Ahmad Dar, a 22-year-old high school dropout, the bomb-maker is believed to be presently in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK).

This is not the first time that a close relative of Azhar has been found to have infiltrated into the valley; previously in 2016, the JeM supremo’s brother-in-law’s son Talha Rasheed was liquidated by security forces. Umair’s own brother was also killed in an encounter in Tral in October last year.

This Pulwama attack is the latest in a series of high profile terror attacks in India carried out by JeM; the attack on the army camp at Uri and the strike on the Pathankot air base were also carried out by JeM jihadists.

The effective and operational head of JeM currently is Azhar’s younger brother Rauf Ashgar as the founder is presently in ill health.

Explosives experts from the National Security Guard (NSG) visited the site of the attack and their initial investigation reveals that the bombing was carried out with around 100 to 150 kg of RDX. It is still not clear how such a large quantity of the high-grade explosive entered the valley.