JeM behind blasts in J&K's Tangdhar, Samba, Kathua, Rajbagh last year: NIA

Delhi: The blasts in Tangdhar, Samba, Kathua and Rajbagh in Jammu and Kashmir last year is linked to Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the chargesheet filed by NIA in the Pathankot terror attack case has revealed.

According to a report in The Times of India, Kashif Jan, main handler of Pathankot attackers, had claimed in his Facebook messages that he had planned the attacks at Kathua and Samba on March 20-21 last year.

Jan is said to have been in constant touch with the Pathankot attackers over phone during the strike.

Three people were killed in Kathua.

As per the NIA, documentary and digital evidence points to JeM's role in Samba and Rajbagh attacks too.

The terrorists had left two slips of paper in the Pathankot attack, which read as - "Jaish-e-Mohammad zindabad, Tangdhar se le kar Samba Kathua Rajbagh aur Delhi tak, Afzal Gurushaheed ke jan nisar tum ko milte rahenge."

The media house quotes from the chargesheet as follows - "The slips, along with other corroborative evidence, established they were JeM members based in Pakistan and that the attack was one of the series carried out by them after Tangdhar, Samba, Kathua, Rajbagh in revenge for the death of Afzal Guru". 

On December 19,  wrapping up investigations in the Pathankot airbase attack case, NIA had filed a chargesheet against JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother and two others for hatching the conspiracy of the January 02 audacious terror strike that left seven personnel dead and 37 others injured.

The chargesheet was filed in the NIA court at Panchkula in which all the four have been slapped with charges under Indian Penal Code, Explosive Substances Act, Arms Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Besides Azhar, his brother Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar and two handlers - Shahid Latif and Kashif Jan - have been named in the exhaustive chargesheet.

The terrorists were engaged in a gunfight only at 0320 hours of January two, 19 hours after they had entered the IAF base.

Giving details about the infiltration and activities of the four terrorists, the NIA said in its chargesheet that all the four terrorists underwent extensive motivational, physical, military and tactical training and were radicalized to carry out terror strikes in India, as per PTI.

The four terrorists armed with ammunition and other logistical items illegally crossed the Indo-Pak international border through the forest area near the Simbal Border Outpost on December 30.

Empty food packets manufactured in Pakistan and other food articles from the neighbouring country were recovered from the forest area near the Simbal Border Outpost, during investigation.

(With Agency inputs)