NIA takes over probe into Jan 31 encounter with JeM terrorists on outskirts of Jammu

The National Investigation Agency has taken up the probe into an encounter along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway last month in which three Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists were killed, officials said on Monday.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notification on Monday directing the agency to carry out a thorough probe into the circumstances in which the three terrorists had sneaked into Jammu and Kashmir through the International Border at Sambha.

In a late night operation on Sunday, three Overground Workers (OGWs) were arrested from Pulwama district of south Kashmir in connection with the January 31 encounter.

They have been identified as Suhail Javed Lone, Zahoor Ahmad Khan and Shoiab Manzoor, the officials said.

Lone, a Jammu student, was the second point of contact for the JeM terrorists in case they failed to meet Sameer Ahmad Dar, who was driving them to the Kashmir Valley in a truck.

Dar, a cousin of the suicide bomber who killed 40 CRPF personnel in a deadly attack last year in Pulwama, was among the five arrested after the incident.

The militants were killed in a fierce gunbattle with police at the Ban Toll Plaza on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway on January 31.

A police constable was also injured in the incident.