Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Jan 18: Security forces have foiled Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant outfit’s efforts to set up a base in Kashmir to carry out attacks against security forces.
Sources said that the JeM for the last two years had been making desperate efforts to set up its network in Kashmir valley and strengthen the outfit here. But the continuous pressure maintained by the security agencies in Kashmir valley on their cadres led to foiling of such attempts.
A top security official said the Army has foiled their attempts to infiltrate cadres by strengthening the counter-infiltration grid along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir. “Last year JeM tried to infiltrate their cadres into Kashmir along the LoC 7-8 times but they failed. However, one group of around 4-5 militants has managed to infiltrate through Macchil sector last year and is now confined to Lolab forests”, he added.
The official said there are two groups of JeM militants comprising around 9 militants in Lolab area. One of these groups infiltrated last year through Macchil sector in Kupwara. The other group had infiltrated into Lolab forests in 2014 along with their commander Saifullah, who is now heading the JeM in Kashmir. But security forces didn’t let these militants to come out of Lolab forests as they are maintaining continuous pressure on them.
Army killed four militants of JeM in May last year when they infiltrated and tried to target the Tangdhar Brigade Headquarter of Army. As the JeM Fidayeen tried to storm the Brigade Headquarter, Army gunned them down near the fence.
The Afzal Guru squad of the JeM made another attempt to carry out Fidayeen attack on Tanghdar Brigade in November last year. But all three of them were gunned down inside the Brigade Headquarters.
Two commanders of JeM who spent almost a year in South Kashmir’s restive Tral area, failed to make their base in the area. JeM commander, Adil Pathan, and his deputy Burmee were tasked to make recruitment for the organization and set up a network in South Kashmir but they failed for almost one year and were finally gunned down by security forces last year.
Sources said that there were over 30 militants in Afzal Guru squad tasked to carry out strike against security establishments in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab. Out of these, 11 were killed so far in the operations in Tanghdar and Pathankot. The members of the squad are highly trained and are based in Bahawalpur. Sources said that JeM runs one camp in Muzaffarabad as well.
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