Here¡¯s How Terrorists Managed To Cross The Border And Attack The Indian Army Camp At Uri
The security establishment is probing a two-point breach, first at the Line of Control (LoC) at Uri and the second at the perimeter of the Army base that saw the fencing wire being cut. The two lapses helped suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) fidayeenaccess the heavily-guarded camp and execute one of the deadliest suicide attacks in J&K.
The security establishment is probing a two-point breach, first at the Line of Control (LoC) at Uri and the second at the perimeter of the Army base that saw the fencing wire being cut. The two lapses helped suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) fidayeen access the heavily-guarded camp and execute one of the deadliest suicide attacks in J&K.
BCCL
The possibility that those on sentry duty were not sufficiently alert is learnt to have figured in the review meeting called by home minister Rajnath Singh, with the attendees considering it a serious lapse in view of the lesson from Pathankot where a fidayeen squad of Jaish infiltrated the strategically crucial air base, and because of Pakistan's attempt to cause upheaval in J&K.
Sources in intelligence agencies told TOI that JeM was identified as the perpetrator of the Uri attack after a representative of the terror outfit called up a local journalist in Kashmir to claim responsibility. Incidentally, Jaish had also emerged as the outfit behind the Pathankot attack but it did not claim responsibility for the same.
BCCL
"As per preliminary inputs, the suspected Jaish terrorists seem to have followed their usual modus operandi of infiltrating from across Pakistan the night before the attack and heading straight for the target. We suspect that the four Jaish fidayeen crossed the LoC at Uri, which lies not too far from the Army base, late on Saturday nightand were at the base in time for an early morning strike," a top functionary of the intelligence establishment said.
Agencies on Sunday pointed to a recce of the administrative base and did not rule out help from a 'mole' or overground worker in alerting the Jaish masterminds to troop positions within the camp, thus helping the fidayeen maximise casualties. "A recce was done. The terrorists were aware of the layout of the camp and knew their way around. They had possibly identified the stretches where the fence was not properly manned and accordingly found a safe spot to cut the perimeter wire," said an officer.
BCCL
"All possible lapses on part of the Army, which was in charge of guarding both the LoC and base perimeter, are subjects of a detailed enquiry," he added.
"For now, the writing on the wall is clear: Infiltration has gone up significantly this year as compared to last year, with estimates putting the total cases so far at 100. In the days to come, both infiltration and terrorism will see a further spike," warned an intelligence officer.
BCCL
As many as four major infiltration attempts were reported over the past week, including at Nowgamin Baramulla in which four militants were killed; Poonch where one policeman was injured as he tried to intercept freshly-infiltrated Lashkar terrorists and two instances of forces foiling infiltration bids at Gurez and Tangdhar. Agencies are also probing if the Uri attackers were terrorists who may have got past Gurez or Tangdhar.
"It seemed that Pakistan was up to something. Uri, where a changeover of troops was in progress and which the attackers had possibly got advance information of, may have provided the perfect target... that the forces were concentrated in south Kashmir, dealing with protests there, may have made Jaish strike in north Kashmir," a senior intelligence officer told TOI.
BCCL
J&K police apprehend that local protests may intensify ahead of UN General Assembly session. A police officer said terrorists may have consolidated their ranks in J&K due to failure of the counter-insurgency grid to undertake pro-active anti-terror operations over the past two months.
"The preoccupation of J&K police and central forces with crowd control has put counter-terror operations on hold. Moreover, intelligence on terrorists' movement and activity is not being generated. The number of terrorists holed up in the valley was around 170-180 before the current unrest. It remains to be seen if this has gone up significantly," said a J&K police officer.