The teen school boy who triggered the bomb blast on Thursday by tossing a grenade at a bus had concealed the explosive in his tiffin box while travelling to Jammu from Kashmir. The Jammu blast killed two passengers and injured 32.
The Class 9 student had been given orders by the Kulgam district commander of Hizbul Mujahidern (HM), Umar, it is learnt.
The arrested boy reportedly told the police during interrogation that he travelled about 300 km in a private car to reach Jammu on Thursday morning to carry out the job he had been tasked with. The police are trying to find the car in which he had travelled to Jammu. The boy is learnt to have also told the police that he concealed the grenade under dry rice in his tiffin box.
The development indicates Pakistan-backed terrorists are now using school boys to carry put terror acts in crowded areas.
Meanwhile, the death toll in the grenade attack increased to two on Friday when a resident of Kashmir succumbed to injuries.
Jammu IGP MK Sinha said injured passenger Muhammad Riyaz, a resident of Anantnag, succumbed to the injuries he had suffered when the grenade exploded.
A 17 year old youth was killed on Thursday when the teen tossed the grenade at the bus in the crowded general bus stand in the heart of Jammu city. As many as 32 passengers were injured in the blast.
In a swift action, the police arrested the Jammu blast accused within four hours. The accused, a resident of Pulwama, was trying to escape back to the Valley after carrying out the terror act.
CCTV clips were flashed to all police stations of Jammu and the terrorist was arrested at the Ban toll post in Nagrota on the Jammu-Srinagar highway. During sustained interrogation, he told the police that he had been asked by HM commander Kulgam, Umar, to do the job, and that he reached Jammu early Thursday morning for the purpose.
The IGP has appealed to all shopkeepers to install CCTV cameras so that crime and militancy related incidents could be checked.