Pak-based Jaish behind the killing of Kashmiri Pandit Rahul Bhat

The fall of Kabul to Islamist Taliban and globally proscribed Haqqani Network has emboldened Jaish to keep the terror pot boiling in the valley by deliberately targeting the minority community.

The terrorists belonging to Pak-based and globally proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammad are suspected to be involved in the killing of the Kashmiri Pandit government employee Rahul Bhat in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam district.

Masood Azhar (AFP)

According to intelligence inputs, the Jaish-e-Mohammad group has been desperate to take action against the minority community in order to keep the terror plot boiling. "After the fall of Afghanistan to Islamist Taliban and globally designated Haqqani network the Jaish-e-Mohammad leadership based in Bahawalpur believes that they can also take on the might of Indian security forces," said a senior security official.

While the JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar runs a terror factory from Bahawalpur, the Pakistan government for the record has told the FATF that the terror kingpin cannot be located and presumably not in Pakistan.

The Jaish-e-Muhammad's desperation can be gauged by the fact that two of its terrorists were neutralised in an encounter with the security forces which had erupted after a search operation in an area adjacent to the Sunjwan military station in Jammu a fortnight ago. One of the terrorists had also worn a suicidal vest and had planned a suicide attack in Jammu, the security forces had said.

Rahul Bhat was an employee of the Chadoora area Tehsildar office in Budgam district. According to the Jammu and Kashmir Police, the preliminary investigations revealed the two terrorists used pistol to commit the crime. The injured was shifted to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.