Counter-terror operatives say govt was apprised about possibility of car bomb attacks, Jaish plan to “spectacularly” target forces
From page 01 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.
REUTERS■ At least 44 CRPF personnel are feared dead after a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district on Thursday.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.