Srinagar: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday arrested four accomplices of Pakistani terrorist Naved alias Usman Khan, who was captured after a terror attack in Udhampur on August 05.
The arrests were made hours after the NIA brought Naved to the Kashmir Valley from Jammu region by road to identify those who helped him reach Udhampur where he was caught.
"The NIA today arrested four people from Pulwama district after Usman identified them," a police officer told media here.
"The NIA took Usman to Pulwama and Kulgam districts following disclosures by him. More arrests are likely to take place following the leads given by the accused," he said.
The arrested people are Fayaz Ahmed Wani and Javed Ahmed Wani - both brothers - Md Altaf Wani and Javed Ahmed Parray. All are residents of Pulwama district.
Fayaz Ahmed Wani and Javed Ahmed Wani were working as carpenters for a contractor in the IAF station in Awantipora, while Md Altaf Wani and Parray were a salesman and a driver respactively.
Intelligence sources said the arrested people were part of a LeT sleeper cell in the Kashmir Valley.
In intelligence parlance, sleeper cells are members of a terrorist group who lie low and do not carry out any terror attacks unless ordered to do so by their handlers.
Usman, hailing from Faisalabad, was overpowered by villagers after he and a fellow Pakistani terrorist shot dead two Border Security Force (BSF) troopers on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Udhampur district.
The captured Pakistani is now in the custody of the NIA.
While NIA officials reached here on Friday from Delhi, Usman has been brought to establish the route he used to reach Udhampur and to identify accomplices who facilitated his passage to Udhampur.
The NIA is also trying to know more about the larger LeT network in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere in India.
