Jammu and Kashmir police have arrested an alleged overground worker (OGW) for providing "logistical support" to the perpetrators of the Pahalgam terror attack. While the police are investigating if the OGW had a direct role in the Pahalgam attack, this is the third arrest made by the police and the NIA for allegedly providing support to the attackers. Police officials said that 26-year-old Mohammad Yousuf Katari was arrested from south Kashmir's Kulgam in an operation by the Srinagar police. They said that Katari was arrested after his role emerged during a "meticulous investigation and follow-up" by the J&K Police. "He (Katari) provided logistical support to the terrorists killed in Operation Mahadev, who were also involved in the Pahalgam attack," a senior police officer said. "The investigations so far indicate that it was a conscious logistical support.” The operation was carried out exclusively by the Jammu and Kashmir Police even as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has officially taken over the probe of the Pahalgam attack. The NIA has already arrested two persons for allegedly providing food and shelter to the perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack. On April 22, 25 tourists and a local pony rider were killed in a targeted terror attack at the Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam. The terror attack triggered a conflict between India and Pakistan after India carried out terror strikes on Lashkar and Jaish headquarters in Pakistan. The Pahalgam attackers, identified by police and the NIA, were killed in an army operation on July 29 at Dachigam forests in the outskirts of the Srinagar city. Police had identified them as Suleiman Shah, Jibran and Hamza Afghani, all Pakistani nationals. Shah was called the mastermind of the attack.
