Car with explosives hits convoy on Jammu-Srinagar highway; JeM claims responsibility, govt vows action
SRINAGAR/JAMMU: A suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives rammed a bus carrying Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troops, part of a large paramilitary convoy, on the JammuSrinagar highway on Thursday. Forty-four men were killed as the vehicle was reduced to a mangled heap of metal in the deadliest terror attack in three decades of insurgency — one, which many experts said, would evoke a strong response from India.
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.At least 20 more were injured in the attack in the Awantipora area of Pulwama district. Terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad, which Indian authorities say is backed by Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack that took place in Lethpora, about 30 km from Srinagar. While the police put the official death toll at 33, security officials in Srinagar and New Delhi said at least 44 people had died.
Jaish said the suicide bombing was carried out by a local militant whom it identified as Adil Ahmad Dar of Pulwama.He joined the Jaish in 2018, PTI cited unnamed officials as saying. The Jaish claimed in a statement that the vehicle was carrying 350 kg of explosives, which Indian authorities did not confirm.
“Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack,” PM Narendra Modi said in a statement as political parties denounced the attack in unison. “Sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly.”
Congress president Rahul Gandhi wrote on Twitter: “I’m deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on a #CRPF convoy in J&K in which many of our brave CRPF men have been martyred and a large number wounded, some critically.” In a tweet, party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala charged the Modi government with compromising national security and said terror attacks had taken place unabated under it. The attack may ratchet up tensions between India and Pakistan. Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik said the fact that Jaish owned up to carrying out the attack indicated that Pakistan may have had a hand in it. Minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office, Jitender Singh, told television channels that the attack had led to a “war- like” situation.
“This is a bigger attack than Uri. Unlike the Uri attack, a Pakistan-based terror group has claimed responsibility There will be much more pressure on Pakistan, but my hunch is, because a Pakistan-based group has claimed responsibility, New Delhi too, will have to act. The form and shape of the retaliation will be the government’s prerogative,” said General DS Hooda, former Northern Army commander.
The ministry of external affairs, while condemning the “heinous and despicable act perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation proscribed by the United Nations and other countries” called for its chief Masood Azhar to be listed as a designated terrorist under the sanctions committee of the UN Security Council.
The security establishments at the Centre and in the state, which is under federal rule, were huddled in meetings to take stock of the situation following the attack that precedes general elections, likely to be held simultaneously with state elections, in the spring of 2019.
National security adviser Ajit Doval was monitoring the situation and senior CRPF officials were briefing him. 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.
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.