Forces located Pahalgam attackers ‘four times… exchanged fire once’
Security forces located the
Pahalgam attackers “at least four times” in different spots over the past five days, came “very close” to cornering them in the forests of South Kashmir — and, on one such occasion, even exchanged fire with them, The Indian Express has learnt.
The terrorists were located through information obtained from local residents, intelligence inputs and combing operations, sources said. “It’s a cat and mouse game. There have been moments where they have been visibly located. But by the time they could be engaged, they had escaped. The forests are very thick and it’s not easy to chase someone even after visibly locating them. But we are sure we will get them, it’s only a matter of days,” an officer from the military establishment told this newspaper.
Sources said the terrorists were first located in the forests near Hapat Nar village in Anantnag’s Pahalgam tehsil but they managed to escape by taking advantage of the dense terrain.
Security personnel near the site of the Pahalgam terror attack.
Security forces located the
Pahalgam attackers “at least four times” in different spots over the past five days, came “very close” to cornering them in the forests of South Kashmir — and, on one such occasion, even exchanged fire with them, The Indian Express has learnt.
The Army, along with Central Armed Police forces and J&K Police, has been conducting cordon and search operations in the forests around Pahalgam to nab the four terrorists, including two from Pakistan, who gunned down 26 people in the Baisaran meadow on April 21.
Sources said the terrorists were first located in the forests near Hapat Nar village in Anantnag’s Pahalgam tehsil but they managed to escape by taking advantage of the dense terrain.
Later, the sources said, the terrorists were spotted in the forests of Kulgam where they engaged in exchange of fire with security forces before escaping.
The group was again located in the Tral ridge and then Kokernag, where they are currently suspected to be moving around.
Sources said the manhunt has been made more difficult with the terrorists exercising “utmost caution” in arranging for supplies. “Generally, terrorists have to arrange for food and that’s when they get to villages. Sometimes, they get their local contacts to supply food in the jungles. This generates human intelligence and gives security forces the opportunity to corner them. However, these terrorists are operating rather carefully,” an officer said.
“We have learnt of an instance where they went to a village at dinner time, entered a house and ran away with food. By the time security forces received the information and reached there, considerable time had lapsed and the terrorists had escaped,” he said.
Another challenge, sources said, is that the Kishtwar range, which is connected to the higher reaches of Pahalgam, has received less snow this season. “This gives terrorists the option to use the range to cross over towards the Jammu side where the forests can be thicker and terrain harder to negotiate. They have been using the Kishtwar range to move around but as of now we believe they are still in South Kashmir,” the officer said.
“The problem is there is a front door to the Kashmir side and a back door towards the Jammu side. Of late, foreign terrorists have been increasingly using the Jammu side to infiltrate and operate. Our counter-infiltration grid is not as strong on that side as it is in North Kashmir,” he said.
Security forces are hopeful that the terrorists will “eventually make a mistake and be neutralised”. For instance, sources said, the terrorists took away two mobile phones belonging to the tourists they had killed in Baisaran. “It is expected that these phones would be used to establish communication locally and across the border. The technical intelligence network is looking at these phones for possible leads,” sources said.
Meanwhile, the counter-infiltration grid on the Jammu and Kashmir sides has been bolstered and border forces have been put on high alert to ensure the terrorists are not able to cross over.
The J&K Police, on its part, is questioning suspected overground workers of terror outfits in South Kashmir for leads and to determine whether more people were involved in the attack. The investigation has also focussed on logistical support the terrorists may have got in planning and executing the attack.
indianexpress.com
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