Fresh infiltrators in J&K may have played role in attacks

Amid a spate of terror attacks in the past three days in the Jammu region, security agencies suspect that three or four groups of terrorists, some of them who are fresh infiltrators, are on the move in the Reasi, Doda and Kathua areas.

Since June 9, there have been terror strikes at four places in Reasi, Kathua and Doda, where nine pilgrims were killed, a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan was killed, a civilian was injured and at least seven security personnel were injured. Jammu has remained largely free of militant activities in the last two decades compared to the Kashmir Valley.

A top government source said since mid-2021, at least 26 terror attacks have occurred in the Jammu division, pointing to sustained bids to revive militancy in the region after the special status of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) under Article 370 of the Constitution was read down on August 5, 2019.

On June 11 and June 12, two suspected terrorists were killed in an encounter with the security forces in Kathua and a large quantity of arms and ammunition, dry fruits, medicines, batteries, walkie talkie sets were recovered from them.

Recounting the June 11 incident at Saida Sukhal near Kootah Morh in Hira Nagar, close to the Pakistan border, an eyewitness and a local told The Hindu that though two terrorists were killed, there could be more gun-wielding men moving in the area.

“My employee was on way home on a motorcycle when he was stopped by two armed men on June 11 around 7.30 pm. They asked him for his ID card and pulled his hair. One of the gunmen appeared to be high on drugs, and who could barely stand, asked the other person to kill the employee, but they eventually let him go. Both were carrying weapons and were clean-shaven. But the ones who were killed by the police had a beard, this makes us believe that there were more than two persons,” said Dalvir Singh, a resident.

Mr. Singh added that since there had been no rain in the region, the terrorists came out of the forests to fetch water.

‘Asked for water’

A police statement after the incident said that “the two terrorists asked for water from a few houses to which villagers grew suspicious and slammed the doors on them and few raised hue and cry.

The terrorists panicked and fired randomly in the air and also at villagers, leaving one injured.

“After infiltrating from Pakistan, we suspect they were hiding in the forests. They had food but no water. They were killed because of water. The two who were killed after being engaged by the police seem to be different from the two terrorists who assaulted my employee,” Mr. Singh said.

Another local said one of the terrorists was killed with his own grenade as it exploded before he could throw it on an approaching police team. The other terrorist who was hiding near a temple was killed the next day after a sustained gunfight.

Two days before the Kathua incident, a pharmacist Amarjit Sharma was found dead, with a slit throat, near his house in Mela village, around 5 km away.

“We initially suspected that a local is involved and he may have been killed due to communal reasons. It now appears that the same group of terrorists would have killed Sharma also. Police are investigating,” the local said.

The Chenab Valley comprising Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts and the Pir Panjal region comprising Rajouri and Poonch districts in Jammu have witnessed targeted attacks and infiltration from across the border in the past three years, a senior government official said.