The Pulwama terrorist attack where a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a bus carrying CRPF personnel leading to the death of about 40 jawans has shaken the nation. But condemnation and promises of robust retaliation make for weak tea when information about a planned attack of this nature was already making rounds of the media.
On January 15, a month before the ill-fated day, News18 had reported that the state intelligence bureau in Kashmir had intercepted calls between members of JeM and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), which revealed plans by the two terror groups to carry out multiple “fidayeen” attacks at various places across the valley. They had reported that the two terror groups, which are acting in close coordination with each other and the Hizbul Mujahideen are now planning to carry out a ‘spectacular’ car or truck bomb attack in the valley.
“We have never received as many alerts about a suicide strike as we have been getting for the past ten days. We understand that the groups are quite desperate to strike back after we incurred heavy losses on them throughout last year, but the fact that they’re planning on carrying out multiple suicide strikes is a new a much bigger security challenge,” said a highly placed source in the state police had told News18.
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That isn’t all.
A January 3 report in The Print informed that Afghan war veteran and terrorist Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, believed to have been handpicked by JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar, had infiltrated into the Valley to train local recruits and avenge the killing of his Azhar’s nephews, Usman and Talha Rasheed — they were shot dead by security forces in the Valley. The report added that as per well-placed security sources, Ghazi is an expert in Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and is one of the JeM’s leading trainers in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
But the media reporting on the likelihood of this catastrophic security failure is not all. According to a report in The Telegraph, sources in the Intelligence Bureau said that at a recent security meeting of the Union Home Ministry, the threat of car suicide attacks was discussed based on intelligence inputs. “Intelligence reports have been pouring in for the past one year, warning of such attacks. But there were no viable options available to combat such a threat,” a security official told the daily.
The official added that initial reports pointed towards a grave security breach as militants are suspected to have kept a close watch on the movement of the convoy. “It seems to be a well-planned attack, and the casualties could have been more.”
According to more news sources, JeM had warned of a suicide attack — by means of an explosive-laden vehicle — in Kashmir just two days ago. As per NDTV, sources said the Criminal Investigation Department of the state police had shared the video and input about the possible attack with intelligence agencies. Yet, no action had been taken about it, NDTV’s sources indicated.
The question one has to ask now is: Was this incident an intelligence failure, or was it negligence?
Also read: Pulwama Terrorist Attack: Why Isn’t The Media Asking The Right Questions?