Security forces on red alert in J&K

NEW DELHI: Security forces in Jammu and Kashmir have been placed on red alert amid intelligence reports that the Pakistanbacked terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed plans to carry out attacks targeting army and paramilitary forces on Monday.

According to the reports, security forces suspect that the terrorists could carry out an attack using a car bomb or a suicide bomber.

The heightened security in Kashmir coincides with the terror group Hizbul Mujahideen naming Ghazi Haider aka Saifullah Mir as the next chief of the terror group in Kashmir to replace Riyaz Naikoo, who was killed in an encounter this week.

“Ghazi Haider is a nom de guerre. Ghazi means Islamic warrior, Haider is brave,” a security official in Kashmir said, adding that operations to locate the new Hizbul chief would begin soon. The terror outfit has also readied its second line of leadership. Ghazi Haider would have a deputy, Zafar ul Islam, and a chief military adviser Abu Tariq Bhai, according to officials.

For now, the immediate priority of the security forces is to neutralise the Jaish-e-Mohammed threat to convoys of security forces on May 11. The terrorist group is believed to have been planning the possible attack on Monday for days, security officials said.

Last week, according to intelligence reports, Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar, the de facto chief of Jaish, had met his handlers at the Pakistan military’s Inter Services Intelligence complex. Security officials said the choice of May 11 for an attack coincides with the 17th day of Ramzan, when the Battle of Badr was fought and won by a few hundred soldiers in Saudi Arabia.