Militants planned to attack tourists
Investigations into one of the biggest recovery of sophisticated arms and ammunitions this year by the security forces from the thick Gagdhari forests in the Tangdhar region in Kashmir a couple of days ago have revealed that the consignment was meant to be used by terror groups in the Valley for carrying out a major attack to target tourists during the coming holiday season.
Acting on a specific intelligence tip off, the Army recovered the huge cache of weapons, including AK- 57 rifles, grenade launcher and rocket propelled grenades, Pika rifle, AK Magazines. The consignment was concealed in the Gagdhari forests and was recovered following a major combing operation in the region by the security forces. Intelligence agencies had sounded the security forces about a major infiltration bid in the Uri and Gurez sectors by militants from Lashkar-eTayyaba and the Jaish- eMohammed.
It is suspected that some militants indeed might have managed to sneak in from across the border and concealed the large amount of arms and ammunition to be recovered later. However, due to timely intervention by the Army, the weapons were recovered and now a major hunt has been launched to track down the module that is suspected to have crossed over into the Indian territory.
Intelligence sources said that investigations have revealed that the module had been specifically instructed to carry out a big terror attack. “It is certain that this consignment of weapons was meant to target the tourists during the coming holiday season since it is believed that the Valley will have a bumper tourist season this year in wake of the improved security situation in the Kashmir region,’’ said a senior security official involved in Kashmir operations.
Security in the three sectors of Tangdhar, Uri and Gurez has been stepped up considerably as security agencies suspect that the biggest infiltration bids will happen from this region in the days ahead. Sources claim that reinforcement from other sectors in the Kashmir Valley have been rushed there to virtually seal the Line of Control ( LoC). Both the Centre and the state governments are working overtime to ensure that the terrorists in the Valley who have been pushed on the backfoot due to sustained operations by security forces are not given any space to make a comeback.