Local hand, foreign design in Valley attack
FOREWARNED Counter-terror operatives say govt was apprised about possibility of car bomb attacks, Jaish plan to “spectacularly” target forces
NEW DELHI: Senior government officials are concerned about the lack of action on a high-level intelligence alert on the possibility of a Jaish-e-mohammed (JEM) attack between Pulwama and Srinagar. They admit that it will be very difficult for India to not retaliate after Thursday’s attack in Pulwama — the worst in three decades of insurgency.
Counter-terrorism operatives suspect the attack was payback for the killing of JEM chief Masood Azhar’s nephew Usman Haider in an encounter in Tral last October.
The operatives, who asked not to be identified, said the Narendra Modi government had been apprised and was concerned about the possibility of car bomb or lone wolf attacks in the hinterland.
According to the government officials, who asked not to be identified, recent communication intercepts by intelligence agencies, coupled with a public declaration by Azhar’s younger brother Rauf Asghar that the terror outfit would “spectacularly” target the Indian security forces, and the posting of a video of a bus being blown up on the terror group’s website, all indicated a major terrorist attack. This intelligence was communicated to all internal security agencies on the eve of the attack, they added. HT couldn’t independently confirm this.
A police alert released on February 8 said before deployment of forces the area should be sanitised as there were inputs over the possible use of IEDS.
To be sure, analysts say, a suicide bombing that involves a large quantity of explosives and a car would have required a lot of co-ordination and planning – and would have resulted in some chatter.
Other generic inputs circulated through the Multi-agency Centre (MAC) warned about a possible attack as well. One alert pointed to the so-called Kashmir Day - the hanging of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat on February 9, 2013, and February 11, 1984 - and warned about a possible terror attack by JEM. On Tuesday, the local CID unit of the Jammu and Kashmir Police also warned about a possible attack.
Although the counter-terrorism operatives do not blame the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) for moving 2,500 personnel in a convoy through the sensitive area, the worry is on how to counter Pakistan-based terrorist groups if they escalate such terror attacks to the hinterland.
According to intelligence officials, Haider was killed in a security encounter on October 31, 2018 and IC-814 hijacker Athar Ibrahim’s other son Mohammed Umar is still stuck in the Valley. Ibrahim is Azhar’s elder brother. IC-814 was the Indian Airlines flight hijacked from Kathmandu to Kandahar in December 1999; India was forced to release three prisoners including Masood Azhar to secure the release of the passengers.
Preliminary reports on explosive analysis at the Pulwama spot indicate that the vehicle that rammed into the CRPF convoy was laden with RDX . Tests carried out by the National Security Guard (NSG) explosives team at the spot along with other teams have indicated this. A high-level NSG team is also reaching the spot on Friday.
“How and from where such a large quantity of explosives was gathered is a matter of investigation, but it points to a failure,” said a senior official in the security establishment who did not want to be identified.
“There have been reports of explosives being smuggled from the quarries [in south Kashmir],” another senior official in Jammu and Kashmir said.
At the same time, why the convoy was not adequately protected is also a question of inquiry. Officials in the security establishment are of the view the convoy was spotted soon after it moved. “It is not difficult to predict the time. Once a convoy leaves Banihal tunnel, the time is taken to reach this area, or Srinagar is predictable,” an officer said.
Around 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in 78 vehicles, including buses and bullet-proof vehicles, leave Channi Rama transit in Jammu for Bakshi
Stadium transit camp in Srinagar to travel further to their respective camps. The number of security personnel travelling was high as there was no traffic allowed on the Jammu-srinagar highway for the past one week due to heavy snowfall. The convoy approaches Latoomode in Awantipora of south Kashmir, when a vehicle driven by the Jaish-e-mohammad militant Adil Ahmad Dar starts following the convoy. He apparently drives up to the highway from a road linking nearby villages to the highway. Dar drives along with convoy for a few minutes and then
crashes his vehicle, laden with large amounts of explosives, into unarmored bus, belonging to the 76th battalion of the force. At least 40 personnel were on board. Such was the impact that the bus turned into a mangled heap of iron. The bus was in the middle of the convoy. An exchange of fire takes place. It is not clear whether the firing was initiated by militants, the road opening party or forces accompanying the convey. No injuries are reported. The quick reaction team of the army reaches the spot, and takes CPPF personnel to the Army Base Hospital at Badami Bagh, a cantonment town on the outskirts of Srinagar. The entire highway is cordoned off and search operations are started. Prime P Minister Congress C president National Conference leader