Last Updated:November 19, 2025, 22:54 IST

The Kot Bhalwal jail houses several Pakistani and local terrorists, and was raided as part of an operation to crack down on terror networks reportedly operated from prisons.

The Jammu and Kashmir police conducted raids in the high-security Kot Bhalwal jail in Jammu, which houses hardcore Pakistani and local terrorists, and the district jail in the border district of Poonch, as part of an operation to crack down on terror networks being operated from prisons.

A raid was conducted at the Kot Bhalwal jail, which houses several notorious criminals and terrorists, followed by a search operation at the Poonch jail on Wednesday, officials told news agency PTI. They said the jail authorities extended full cooperation during the searches.

The operation comes in the backdrop of a major crackdown in the Kashmir valley following the recent unearthing of a ‘white-collar’ terror network run by a group of doctors and the subsequent blast in a car in Delhi’s Red Fort area on November 10 that left at least 15 dead.

Authorities seized 2,900 kg of explosives hours before the Delhi blast from what police described as a “white-collar terror module”, spanning Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, linked to the Pakistani terror groups Jaish-e-Mohammed and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind.

Delhi Red Fort Blast

Hours after the recovery, a high-intensity blast ripped through a slow-moving car on a jam-packed road near Delhi’s Red Fort metro station on November 10, killing 15 people and injuring dozens of others. Dr Umar Nabi, a 28-year-old assistant professor at Haryana’s Al-Falah University, was identified as the suspected suicide attacker in Delhi.

Haryana’s Al-Falah University is at the centre of the investigation into the Delhi Red Fort blast case as several of the accused in the case, including doctors and academics and Dr Umar, were either alumni or employees of the institution, which is now being probed for possible links to a wider terror network.

Jammu and Kashmir Police have recovered the mobile phone of Red Fort suicide bomber Dr Umar-un-Nabi, and data extracted from the damaged device has revealed a video he recorded to justify the attack as a so-called “martyrdom operation,” officials said on Tuesday.

PTI quoted officials as saying that Umar’s brother, Zahoor Illahi, during a detailed interrogation by a special team led by Senior Superintendent of Police GV Sundeep Chakravarthy in Srinagar, initially denied knowledge of his brother’s plans. However, under sustained questioning, he revealed that Umar had handed him a mobile phone with strict instructions to dispose of it in water if news of him surfaced.

Aveek Banerjee

Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master’s in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in international…Read More

Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master’s in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in international… Read More

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