Anantnag man who 'guided' killers was trained in Pakistan

NEW DELHI: Adil Thokar, a local terrorist from Anantnag district who is believed to have played guide to the Pakistani terrorists and, along with them, massacred 26 people in Pahalgam on Tuesday, had legally travelled to Pakistan in 2018 via the Attari-Wagah land border and received terror training there before infiltrating back into Jammu and Kashmir sometime last year.

The family of Adil Thokar alias Adil Guree still lives in Anantnag. Sources in the J&K security establishment told TOI that Adil had been lying low after his return from Pakistan, but was "spotted" on a couple of occasions in south Kashmir. He, however, did not engage in any overt terror activity ahead of his big assignment.

Adil, a source told TOI, was familiar with the geography and the terrain of the Baisaran area in Pahalgam - a sprawling meadow surrounded by thick pine forests - and possibly helped the attack party negotiate the forest, arrange a hideout for them in the forest to recce the attack site over several days and accordingly plan the manner and timing of its execution, and have the escape route ready.