Army cracks down on terrorists

Two years after terrorists established a base in the hills of the Shamsabari range for making forays into the rest of the Kashmir Valley, the army has finally launched operations to flush them out.

Two years after terrorists established a base in the hills of the Shamsabari range in Jammu and kashmir for making forays into the rest of the Kashmir Valley, the army has finally launched operations to flush them out.

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The base was being used by terrorists to make their way to south and central Kashmir, and troops engaged in counter-insurgency operations are now conducting operations against them and rigorously monitoring wireless communications between militant groups, official sources said.

The army acted only after state police and Central security agencies raised the issue of concentration of terrorists in Bandipore, a crucial mountainous area providing access from north Kashmir to other parts of the Kashmir Valley.

At a crucial meeting of the Unified Headquarters, the apex body managing security in Jammu and Kashmir, some of the security agencies alleged that the army's response to the concentration of militants in Bandipore was "confused and directionless", the sources said. This was refuted by the army.

"There was no willingness to go and attack despite the concentration of terrorists being confirmed through human and technical intelligence," a senior police officer said.

Bandipore town, which has the notorious reputation of being the breeding ground for "suicide attackers", is located on the banks of the Wullar, Asia's largest fresh water lake.

Terror groups like the Lashker-e-Taiba kept their cadres safe in well-established bases such as those in the Bandipore mountains. Since 2000, the LeT began establishing fortified hideouts in forests that served as "base stations" for terrorists who crossed the Line of Control, the sources said.