Pak trying to revive militancy in Muslim dominated Rajouri-Poonch?

The fresh terror attack in which five army soldiers were killed clearly indicates that Pakistan was trying to revive terrorism in the Muslim dominated Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu region.

Five soldiers were killed on Thursday afternoon in the first of its kind ambush by terrorists on an army vehicle moving from Bhimber Gali to Sangiot, around 90 kilometres away from the district headquarters Poonch. The attack came at the time when the Jammu and Kashmir government was preparing for hosting maiden G20 meeting in Srinagar.

The fresh terror attack in the border district also came at a time when security forces and police were still trying to eliminate two foreign terrorists involved in the killing of seven minority community members, two of them minors, at village Dhangri in Rajouri on January 1.

Also Read: Attack on Army vehicle in J&K's Poonch: Massive search operation under way to trace terrorists

At almost the same place at Bhatta Durrian, four Army soldiers were killed in a gun battle with the militants in October 2021 taking the toll in the then ongoing operations against three to four ultras in the area to nine. The militants had escaped.

The twin border districts of Rajouri-Poonch had remained peaceful for more than 15 years after the Army’s ‘Operation Sarapvinash’ in which several terrorists were killed and their hideouts destroyed from mid 1990’s to early 2000’s.

Sources said sleeper cells of militants have been activated by the ISI which is trying to reactivate their over-ground workers (OGWs) in the twin districts which share border with Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) areas of Bhimber, Mirpur, Kotli and Rawlakote on the other side.

The twin districts are located to the north west of Jammu city and comprise an area of 4034 square kilometres of mostly hilly terrain.

“Not only the ISI, but the Kashmir based terrorist commanders are hell-bent to revive terrorism in Poonch and Rajouri to divert attention of security forces from the Valley operations. In the last two to three years security forces have succeeded in breaking the backbone of militancy in Kashmir,” they said.

Security experts said the modus-operandi of Thursday's attack on army vehicle is new to Jammu and Kashmir and it was earlier seen in the North East, where terror groups target Army and paramilitary conveys on isolated roads.

“As terrorists have succeeded in carrying out attacks and managing to flee in the twin districts, there is every possibility that in coming times, such tactics may be repeated frequently,” they warned.

In Thursday's attack, the militants had laid down the trap in a planned manner, leaving little scope of reaction time for the trained Rashtriya Rifles soldiers who were travelling in the truck.