Srinagar: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday claimed that the car which was used in the deadliest terror attack on security forces in Kashmir has been identified as Maruti Suzuki Eeco van.
In the suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s southern Pulwama on February 14, the car used was owned by a Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) operative and resident of Anantnag’s Bijbehara area who had bought the car just 10 days before the attack.
An NIA spokesman stated that Sajjad Bhat, a student of Siraj-ul-Uloom, purchased the used vehicle on February 4. The NIA team and the police conducted the raids at his house on Saturday but Sajjad was not present at his house.
The accused Sajjad had reportedly joined the JeM and his photograph also appeared on social media in which he is seen holding weapons. The officials added that the NIA has questioned around a dozen people detained by the police after the blast.
The officials described the identification of the vehicle and its owner as a “significant breakthrough. Piecing together remnants of the vehicle used by the suicide bomber in the Pulwama attack on CRPF convoy, from the scene of the incident, NIA investigators, with the support of forensic and automobile experts, have been able to identify the vehicle used for the blast.”