J&K police arrests school teacher on pilgrims-bus blast

Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir police informed that it had arrested a government school teacher, who allegedly turned into a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist, accused of conducting multiple blasts. The blasts include one in a bus that carried pilgrims to Vaishno Devi, PTI reported.

The ex-teacher, Arif, a resident of Reasi district, was arrested after a probe into a recent twin blast at Narwal in Jammu. An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) placed in a perfume bottle was recovered from Arif, Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Dilbag Singh said on Thursday.

According to the police chief, this was the first time such a type of bomb had been recovered in Jammu and Kashmir.

He further said that the arrestee was working with his Pakistani handlers, and he has admitted to his involvement in blasting the bus carrying the pilgrims, an incident that killed four people and injured 24 last May.

The chief also claimed that he admitted to his role in an IED explosion in Jammu's Shastri Nagar area in February 2022, besides the twin explosions at Narwal on January 21. The Narwal incident injured nine.

"All the (ready-to-use) IEDs have come from across the border," Singh alleged and added that the investigation is still on.

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