SrinagarShortly after the dramatic announcement on Friday that it had apprehended a female suicide bomber, the police in Kashmir said that it was still verifying whether or not the woman had entered the Kashmir Valley for a suicide bombing on January 26.
Additional Director General of Police Munir Khan, who serves as the IGP Kashmir, told reporters in Srinagar that it had fortunately apprehended the suspected woman late last night.
Fortunately, yesterday after working on all the leads we were able to apprehend the suspect late last night, he said, quickly adding they are still verifying whether or not she is a suicide bomber.
We will be talking to her, talking to our sister agencies, we will be covering every other lead to know what the facts are. Only after proper investigation we will be able to come to any conclusion, he said.
It is yet to be verified, authenticated, ascertained, whether she actually is a suicide bomber or not, Khan said while talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function here.
Central intelligence agencies had informed the state police that a woman from Pune, identified as Sadiya Anwar Shaikh, had shifted herself to Kashmir Valley and was in regular touch with ISIS operatives, officials said.
A high alert was sounded in the valley two days ahead of Republic Day and a message was circulated that “there is a strong input” that an 18-year-old non-Kashmiri woman might “cause a suicide bomb explosion” near or inside the Republic Day parade in Kashmir.
“All are directed to please ensure that frisking of ladies at the (venues) is done meticulously and with utmost caution so as to thwart the designs of ANEs (anti-national elements),” the message, circulated on 23 January, read.
Shaikh had been questioned by the Pune Anti-Terrorism Squad in 2015, when it came to notice that she had been radicalised after coming in contact with ISIS supporters abroad.
She was planning to travel to Syria, the ATS had then claimed. The woman, a Class XI student at a Pune college, had subsequently been sent for a de-radicalisation programme by the ATS.
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