Kashmir suicide bomber radicalised after beating by troops
SRINAGAR (Reuters)
- A suicide bomber who killed 44 paramilitary policemen in Indian-controlled
Kashmir joined a militant group after having been beaten by troops three years
ago, his parents told Reuters on Friday.
Relatives of Adil Ahmad Dar, who according to police carried out the
suicide attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy and killed 44
of them on Thursday, mourn inside Adil's residence in Gundbagh village in south
Kashmir's Pulwama district, February 15, 2019. REUTERS/Danish Ismail
Pakistan-based
Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for
Thursday’s car bomb attack on a security convoy, the worst in decades of
insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim majority state. It comes
months before a key Indian general election.
Adil Ahmad Dar,
20, from the village of Lethipora in Indian Kashmir, rammed a car full of
explosives into the convoy, escalating tension between the nuclear-armed
neighbours, which both claim the rugged Himalayan region.
“We are in pain in
the same way the families of the soldiers are,” said farmer Ghulam Hassan Dar,
adding that his son had been radicalised after police stopped him and his
friends on the way home from school in 2016.
“They were stopped
by the troops and beaten up and harassed,” Dar said, adding that the students
were accused of stone-pelting. “Since then, he wanted to join the militants.”
A video released
by the militant group after the attack showed his son, dressed in military
fatigues and carrying an automatic rifle, detailing his plan to carry out the
bombing.
His mother,
Fahmeeda, corroborated her husband’s account.
“He was beaten by
Indian troops a few years back when he was returning from school,” she said.
“This led to anger in him against Indian troops.”
Both parents said
they were unaware of their son’s plan to attack the convoy.
Dar did not return
home from his work as a labourer on March 19 last year, Fahmeeda added. “We
searched for him for three months,” she said.
“Finally we gave
up efforts to bring him back home.”
Reuters could not
independently verify the two accounts. A spokesman for India’s home ministry
did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Anger over the
attack is growing in India, which accuses Pakistan of backing separatist
militants in divided Kashmir. Pakistan denies that, saying it offers only
political support to the region’s suppressed Muslim people.
Jaish, one of the
most deadly groups operating in Kashmir, has been designated a terror group by
the United Nations since 2001.
44 killed in worst Kashmir attack in decades
Ghulam Hassan Dar
said he blamed politicians for his son’s death.
“They should have
resolved the issue through dialogue,” he said, referring to the conflict over
Indian-controlled Kashmir.
“It is they who
are responsible for driving these youth into militancy. The sons of the common
man die here, whether they are Indian troops or our sons.”
Reporting by Fayaz Bukhari in Srinagar;
Writing by Alasdair Pal; Editing by Martin Howell and Clarence Fernandez
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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