High-tech gadgets like pre-programmed drones for weapon dropping and offline applications for escape routes could be providing a security cover to multiple special militant teams active in the Rajouri-Poonch belt, official sources said on Monday.
Ten soldiers have died in twin attacks, the first on April 20 and the second on May 5, in the Rajouri-Poonch sector. Massive search operations were able to kill only one militant and injure another so far. However, the injured militant remains untraced despite the use of technology, including drones and choppers, sniffer dogs and additional troops such as elite para commandos. The anti-militancy operation was carried out on Monday too and no contact was established with any militants in the Kandi Forest area of the Kesari Hills, Kotranka.
Investigating agencies suspect the role of offline applications like ‘Alpine’ being used by the militants to feed their mobiles with routes, making it easy to reach the secure destinations after the attack even if offline.
The images of the April 20 attack, where an Army truck was ambushed between Bhimber Gali-Poonch route, were flashed from the People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF) handles on social media from across the Line of Control (LoC), “indicating the easy connectivity with Internet and safe destinations within the Rajouri-Poonch Sector”.
The investigations into the January 1 attack, where militants swooped on Dangri village in Rajouri, and killed seven civilians from a particular community, suggest that the weapons as well as cash were dropped just a day ahead of the attack. Till that date, the militants were living with locals. In all the three attacks this year in Rajouri, the attackers managed to escape and remain untraced.
Sources said the Border Action Teams (BATs), which have recruits from the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) and villagers living near the LoC as members, have been again activated in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), especially in the launching pads close to the Poonch-Rajouri Sector recently.
Sources said local militants, living in PoK, from the Pir Panchal valley, comprising Rajouri and Poonch and the Chenab Valley, comprising Doda and Kishtwar, have been reactivated to build a fresh network of the overground workers in these two regions in the Jammu province. Non-bailale warrants against 23 local militants from the Chenab Valley were issued on April 26.
Security agencies have zeroed in on the names of Reyaz Ahmad alias Qasim from Reasi’s Mahore, Mohammad Amin alias Khubaib alias Haroon from Doda’s Thathri and Rafiq Nai alias Sultan from Poonch’s Mendhar for their role in recent surge in militant activities in the Poonch-Rajouri sector.
Official figures suggested 10-12 militants, including three to four non-locals split in multiple groups, were active in the Poonch-Rajouri sector.
