Maqsudan police station blast: 2 Kashmiri students arrested

Two Kashmiri college students, allegedly associated with Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind --a terrorist outfit with links to Jaish-e-Mohammed, have been arrested in connection with the Maqsudan police station hand grenade blast case, officials said Monday.

The Kashmir-based Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH) is headed by Zakir Rashid Bhatt alias Zakir Mussa, who masterminded and guided the attacks, police said.

Shahid Qayoom (22) and Fazil Bashir (23), students of an engineering college in Jalandhar, have been arrested, they said.

According to police, it is the second such case of arrest of Kashmiri students linked with AGH in the state. In October, police had arrested three Kashmiri students from the hostel of another engineering college in Jalandhar.

DGP Suresh Arora said in a release that four persons were involved in carrying out the hand grenade blasts inside the Maqsudan police station in Jalandhar on September 14.

Apart from Shahid and Fazil, Mir Ravoof Ahmed alias Rouf and Mir Umar Ramzan alias Gazi were also involved in the act. Rouf and Gazi are absconding, the officer said.

The police said AGH's recruiter Amir of Dada Sara Tral in Kashmir had contacted Shahid and Fazil when they were in the Valley. He reportedly radicalised them and also exhorted the students to work for the terror outfit.

Giving further details, the DGP said Rouf and Gazi travelled to Jalandhar by bus where they met Shahid and Fazil around Maqsudan Chowk, located near the Maqsudan police station.

Arora said Fazil was arrested by the Punjab Police from Awantipora in Kashmir on November 3 and Shahid was picked up from Jalandhar on November 4.

An FIR under IPC Section 307 (attempt to murder) and the Explosives Act was registered against them at police station division number one, Jalandhar Commissionerate.

Expressing concern over targeting police stations in Punjab, the DGP appealed to the student community in the state not to fall prey to the designs of militant elements and anti-national forces.

The blast had occurred in Maqsudan police station in a busy area of Punjab's Jalandhar city on September 14 in which a police personnel sustained minor injuries.