NO MORE JAISH: ARMY

The Indian Army on Tuesday claimed that the top leadership of the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) has been eliminated by security forces, within 100 hours of the terror attack in which 40 CRPF troopers were killed.

"We were tracking the top JeM cadres ever since February 14. The Pulwama terror attack was coordinated by the JeM in Pakistan and the Pakistan Army," the officer said.

He, however, did not accept that there was any security lapse that led to the terror strike. "What the terrorists succeeded in doing is only because of a margin of error of one or two per cent; most of the time, they have been thwarted by the alert security forces.’’ On questions that have arisen about how the bomber zeroed in on the target vehicle, he explained, "There was no restriction on movement of civilian traffic when the terrorist managed to get on to the highway and hit the CRPF bus.’’

However, restrictions on civilian traffic during movement of convoys of security forces are in place now, he added.

Answering a question on the heavy price paid by security forces in Monday's operation, the Corps Commander said that the security forces took casualties because their first priority was to ensure that no civilian life was lost. "We took injuries on our chin to ensure protection to civilians in the area.’’