On Tuesday, a group of Terrorists attacked the XVI Corps headquarters, in Nagrota. Posters were left behind by these terrorists which claim that their action was to avenge the hanging of Afzal Guru in 2013. A member of the Jaish-e-Mohammad operative, he was hung for his role in the attack on the Parliament.
These posters read, ‘Afzal Guru shaheed ke inteqaam ki ek aur kisht’ which means another installment of our vengeance for the martyr Afzal Guru. The attackers were called “Ghazwa-e-Hind key fidayeen”, or holy warriors fighting for Ghazwa-e-Hind. Some neo-fundamentalists, those who seek to reform or deviate from traditional fundamentalism of Islam, while still holding to the essentials of the faith, sects attribute the saying to the prophecy of an apocalyptic war with India. This prophecy is promoted by all the jihadists groups including Lashkar-e-Taiba. The attackers have been linked to the Jaish-e-Mohammad.
On Wednesday during a combing operation, the Jawans found an 80-meter long tunnel across the India-Pakistan international border at Chamliyal. The officials said that this tunnel might have been used by the terrorists to attack Nagrota as there was no damage to the cross-border fence near the area. It is also believed the other terrorists that were shot near Samba would have come from here as there is no another way.
BSF Deputy Inspector General Dharmendra Pareek said “the terrorists killed in Samba were equipped with plastic handcuffs. This suggests that they came with the intention to take hostages. They also were in possession of five two-litre devices filled with trinitro glycerine, a highly incendiary liquid explosive.” Also, the terrorists killed in Nagrota were carrying packaged food, medicine, arms, and explosives. These are the type of groups that attack in hours or sometimes days later. These provisions also could mean that they recently crossed Line of Control to enter Kashmir. The tunnel found was fifth of its kind since 2012 and also there were several partly dug tunnels found in this are.
