New Delhi: The Poonch attack on an Army truck that killed five soldiers Thursday is believed to have been carried out by a combined team of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) with a mix of local and Pakistani terrorists, ThePrint has learnt.
Sources in the defence and security establishment told ThePrint that there were prior inputs of five to seven terrorists being active in the area but the actual attack seems to have been carried out by a group of three.
They added that this is unlikely to be a case of fresh infiltration and the terrorists involved have been active over the last six to eight months. It is believed that they are not based in the Jammu region but travel in from Kashmir.
“The input is that the terrorists come in from Kashmir. They get their weapons here, carry out the attack and go back. We have been trying to get this group but they have remained elusive despite being active for the last six to eight months,” a source said.
Sources said the modus operandi appears to be such that they come over for a few days and have a strong local network to help with logistics and stay. The group does not remain in the Poonch-Rajouri area long enough for the agencies to track them down. It is believed the same group was behind the terror strike in Dangri in January, they said.
“This group has been operating in this region and is believed to have been behind other incidents too but none have been solved yet,” a second source said.
There have been 13 incidents involving terror groups in this region over the last year and a half and none of them have been solved yet.
Sources said the group is primarily of foreign terrorists but they also have local recruits among them.
“The JeM front has claimed responsibility for the attack. But we believe it is a joint group of JeM and LeT with the former being the lead,” a third source said.
Multiple teams, drones deployed
Sources said multiple teams have been set up and are pursuing all inputs. The Army has launched multiple teams, including Special Forces, to scan the adjoining forest areas close to the LoC.
They said the aim is to ensure that no one is able to exfiltrate – go back into Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
Besides sniffer dogs, the Army has also deployed tactical drones to pick up movement in the forest area and along the LoC. Sources said that as of now, close to a dozen people have been picked up as part of normal questioning but the perpetrators have not been identified yet.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)