Early Thursday morning, an encounter between a group of terrorists and security forces occurred at the Ban toll plaza, near Nagrota. In the end, four terrorists were dead, but it was not just a chance encounter. This was an intelligence-based operation that aimed to block what security forces believed could be a major attack, which was planned from across the border.
According to people familiar with the matter, initial data from a global positioning system (GPS) device and mobile phones carried by the four terrorists shows that they were in contact with the Mufti operational commanders of the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e- Mohammed (JeM). Rauf Asghar and Qari Zarar aiming to wreak havoc in the Valley.
Mufti Asghar is the younger brother of JeM chief and UN-appointed global terrorist Masood Azhar.
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On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefed on the entire operation by national security adviser Ajit Doval in the presence of Interior Minister Amit Shah, Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla and the two intelligence chiefs.
Following this, the prime minister tweeted: “The neutralization of four terrorists belonging to the Pakistan-based JeM terrorist organizations and the presence of a large cache of explosives with them indicates that their efforts to wreak havoc and destruction have been seen frustrated once more. ”
Thanking the security forces for their brave action, Prime Minister Modi said his alertness had foiled an infamous plot to target grassroots-level democratic exercises (reference to the Panchayat elections) in Kashmir.
People familiar with the matter added that the deep state of Pakistan, as is its custom, is using pan-Islamist jihadist groups like JeM to attack India by sending suicide bombers across the border. HT learns that Pakistani agencies have decided to hand over the Balakot terrorist training facility to JeM, more than a year and a half after it was bombed by IAF planes.
NSA Doval was informed of the encounter at the Ban toll plaza early Thursday morning as soon as the shooting began at 4.50am.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that the four terrorists, all from Pakistan’s Punjab province, moved from the other side of the Shakargarh bulge and crossed into India in the Samba sector.
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While leading counterterrorism experts are still investigating the possible targets of terrorists, the weapons, ammunition, grenades and explosives (RDX) they carry clearly indicate that they had a major attack planned in the Valley. Eleven AK-series rifles, 30 Chinese grenades, 16 rounds of AK ammunition and 20 kilograms of RDX were recovered from the bodies. The terrorists were trained for battle as despite repeated attempts by J&K police to capture one of them alive, they refused to budge and fought to the end.
Indian intelligence officials say that, in addition to being an attempt to sabotage the ongoing electoral exercise in the region, the aborted attack may also be a diversionary tactic by the Pakistani military and ISI chiefs, under pressure from the parties. the opposition in the country, to focus attention. back in Kashmir.
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