Choice of location to bullets to bodycam: 2 Poonch terror attacks share many similarities

On December 21, militants ambushed two Army vehicles near Topa Pir on the Dehra Ki Gali-Buffliaz Road, killing four soldiers and injuring three.

The two locations are separated by roughly 30 kilometres of dense forests, but if one has to travel by road, it would take 55 kilometres via Surankote, and 80 kilometres via the Rajouri-Thanamandi route.

Sources pointed out that in both instances, militants believed to be four or five in number chose the ambush location after extensive reconnaissance of the area. The exact place where they struck appears to have been chosen meticulously too, keeping in mind that vehicles have to slow down before negotiating a curve.

Further, militants used steel core ammo in both attacks and are also learnt to have taken away weapons of the deceased soldiers after the ambush, sources said. They also appear to have been wearing headgear fitted with bodycam to shoot photographs and videos of the attacks, ostensibly to release on social media, sources said.

The People’s Anti-Fascist Front, a proxy front of Jaish-e-Mohammed terror outfit, has claimed responsibility for both the attacks. After the Bhatta Durian attack, it had released purported video footage, while after the recent attack, it released photographs.

A retired senior Army officer, who has served in Jammu and Kashmir for several years, expressed concern at the situation, raising fears that militants may have created “liberated zones” if one takes into account their attacks on security forces in Rajouri and Poonch districts during the past two years. The officer said it is possible that 20-25 militants are hiding in the dense forests, in small groups, and frequenting villages on the peripheries.

The General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Northern Command, Lt General Upendra Dwivedi, had also said last month that 20-25 militants were active in Rajouri and Poonch districts, and retired Pakistan Army soldiers were part of their ranks. “When we tried to seek identification of militants, we came to know that some of them are retired Army personnel (of Pakistan),” he said.

He also attributed the delay in elimination of two foreign militants in Rajouri district to them being “highly trained, possibly trained in Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries”. The two, including Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Quari from Pakistan, were killed in an encounter last month. Both had been active in Pir Panjal area over the past year and were responsible for the killing of Army soldiers and civilians, the Army had said in a statement, adding that they had “created an ecosystem, with someone providing them arms, ammunition and information”.

On Tuesday, J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha said the terror ecosystem will soon be dismantled as a handful of terrorists from across the border cannot scare such a large population.

Meanwhile, security forces, with the help of sniffer dogs and drones, continued searches in the dense forests and surrounding areas. Movement of civilians and the mobile internet services in both Rajouri and Poonch remained suspended for the fifth day.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is set to arrive for a day-long visit on Wednesday. He is expected to visit Rajoui and conduct a security review meeting at Raj Bhavan in the evening.