Ganderbal attack: Local militant who joined Lashkar-e-Taiba last year prime suspect

In the footage, two men are seen carrying an American-made M4 carbine assault rifle and an AK-47, spending around seven minutes at the camp before fleeing the spot.

According to sources, the footage was shown to some locals from the Kulgam village where one of the men is believed to be from, and they indicated it looked like the same person.

In Kashmir, too, police sources confirmed one of the attackers looked like a local militant from Kulgam. “We retrieved CCTV footage of the incident and shared it with our sister agencies. One of the two attackers looks like a local militant from south Kashmir,” said a senior officer.

At the funeral of Dr Shahnawaz Dar, who was among the seven persons killed in the terror attack in J&K’s Ganderbal district. (Express photo by Shuaib Masoodi)

Sources said that after he went missing in July 2023, the man joined The Resistance Front, which police say is a shadow group of the LeT.

According to police sources, he has a Bachelor of Arts degree and used to drive a truck before joining the militant ranks. Sources also said the family does not have a past record of any militant links.

According to sources, police are in touch with his family, who are not aware of his current whereabouts. “We are trying to find out more details about him and questioning some of his associates to get leads,” a source said.

Security forces cordon off the site of the terror attack at Gagangir in Ganderbal district. (PTI)

On October 20, seven men — six from outside Kashmir and a local doctor — were killed in the attack. They were working for infrastructure company APCO Infratech, which is constructing the Z-Morh tunnel on the Srinagar-Sonamarg highway.

“After the incident, multiple agencies, including officials of the National Investigation Agency, visited the crime scene. They found CCTV footage of the incident, which shows the attack took place around 7.25 pm, when some employees were sitting in the dining area and others were heading for dinner. The camp is just below an approach road to the tunnel, and is surrounded by barren mountains on one side and the Srinagar-Leh national highway on the other,” an official said.