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Poonch attack: JeM offshoot releases photos of ambush, says ‘video soon’
People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), an offshoot of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), has released pictures claiming them to be from the site of ambush at Tota Gali.
Even as security forces continued with their cordon and search operations for the sixth day in the jungles of Bhata Dhurian in Poonch district on Tuesday, People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), an offshoot of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), has released some pictures on social sites claiming them to be from the site of ambush at Tota Gali.
In the posts on social sites, PAFF, which had earlier claimed the responsibility of the attack, has stated that some parts of the videos of the ‘Operation’ will be released ‘soon’.
HT can’t independently vouch for the veracity of the pictures released by the PAFF. However, sources in the security establishment confided to HT that it has been a modus-operandi of outfits like PAFF and Jammu and Kashmir Freedom Fighters to post photographs immediately after terror attacks.
“They do so to gain publicity in social media sites and show their presence. They are proxy outfits and they do it for propaganda. Since cadres of various terror outfits are depleting fast because of the concerted anti-terror operations, they are desperate to revive terrorism in the region,” they said.
Three pictures have been released by PAFF spokesperson Tanvir Ahmad Rather, who also shared brief information in pointers of how the attack was executed on the fateful day of Thursday.
A photograph shows an arm of the terrorist with a gun in his hands. The caption reads, ‘Poonch Attack. Bright day stalking the prey…” Another photograph shows the Army truck approaching the road.
Read: Tears and tributes mark last rites of Poonch attack victims
On Thursday at 3 pm, the Army truck was ambushed at Tota Gali on Bhimber Gali-Sangiote stretch of the Jammu-Poonch national highway amid rain and low visibility.
The attackers, believed to be five to seven in numbers, ambushed the truck killing five soldiers and seriously injuring another, before blasting the fuel tank with an IED and fleeing from the spot with weapons of martyred soldiers.
Since Thursday, the Indian Army has deployed special forces teams along with drones and helicopters to track-down the terrorists.
However, success so far has eluded them. The Jammu and Kashmir police and CRPF have also pressed into service their men and commandos to hunt down the terrorists.
