While the attackers involved in the April 20 attack on an army vehicle in which five soldiers were killed in the border district of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir are still at large, a religious cleric has been detained by the police for questioning in connection with the same.

Molvi Manzoor from Madrassa, Markaz -Ul-Marrif was arrested from Bathindi area of Jammu city on suspicions of having links with terrorists involved in the Poonch terror attack, local media reported.

Though there has been no official confirmation of the arrest, sources said during interrogation and questioning of detainees, the name of Poonch-based Molvi Manzoor surfaced for allegedly having links with terrorists and across the border.

Five Army soldiers were killed and a sixth was seriously injured when their vehicle caught fire during a terror attack on an army vehicle moving from Bhimber Gali to Sangiot, around 90 kilometers away from the district headquarters Poonch.

In the last 10 days, police and other security agencies have detained nearly 250 individuals, of which seven have been formally arrested while most of the others have been released after initial questioning.

J&K police chief Dilbag Singh on Friday said six terror operatives that included an entire family of one of them colluded on the instructions of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and provided logistical support that included arms, ammunition, grenades and cash dropped by a Pakistani drone, besides food and shelter to the terrorists, who ambushed the Army truck at Tota Gali in Poonch.

A massive search operation to track down the terrorists involved in the attack is underway in Bhata Dhurian following the ambush. “We believe that terrorists have been in this area for the past couple of months and they were shifting their hideouts from one place to another,” he said.

It is believed that the attackers lived for two to three months in the natural caves in the jungles of Bhat Dhurian.