Heightened vigil thwarted repeat of Pulwama-like attacks

A year after a deadly car bomb attack on February 14 in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, “changed strategy, tactics and heightened vigil” by security forces has ensured such attacks were not repeated.

On February 14 last year, 21-year old Anil Dar, a Jaish-e-Muhammad suicide bomber, rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a CRPF convoy at Lethpora in Pulwama, blowing himself up and killing at least 40 paramilitary personnel.

It was the deadliest attack by the militants since the eruption of militancy in 1990.

Sources said that since the dreadful incident, the CRPF have bettered their capability for training, bettered in terms of equipment, tactics, mobility, and navigation which has ensured no such attacks were repeated.

“Less dependence on road convoys and increased travel through the air was one of the key factors responsible for thwarting the attacks by militants in the last one year. Road-opening-Parties (RoPs) played a vital role in preventing the repeat of Lethpora like attack, as they maintained a high level of coordination and vigil whenever there was a convoy,” they revealed.

A senior CRPF officer told DH that the coordination and synergy between police, army, and CRPF also helped keep militants at bay. “One of the big examples is that recently, police busted a Jaish-e-Mohammad module in Srinagar, from whom a suicide vest filled with almost 200 Gelatin sticks and hundreds of small round-shaped steel balls were recovered,” he said.

The officer said that even though frequent inputs keep on coming that militants may target convoys of CRPF and other forces but given the changed strategy and the security drills the force has adopted since last February, “it won’t be a cakewalk for them (militants).”

On March 30 last year, a blast inside the private car took place on Jammu-Srinagar highway, near the Jawahar Tunnel, when a convoy carrying 200 CRPF soldiers was passing by. The 10 personnel on board had a lucky escape as the plan for a Pulwama-like attack failed.

Next day security forces arrested one Owais Amin, a Hizbul Mujahideen militant behind a failed car suicide bomb attack on a CRPF convoy.