J&K on high alert after militants sneak into valley

High alert has been sounded in Jammu and Kashmir following intelligence reports that a group of 20 militants has infiltrated into the Valley. Top police sources said the militants have infiltrated from Poonch in Jammu where Pakistan has the advantage of height.

It is believed that the militants belong to Moulana Azhar Masood-led Jaish-e-Muhammad.

Jaish has emerged as the new threat in Kashmir in the last two years after security forces launched the 'Operation All Out' in which more than 200 militants, including 11 most wanted commanders of the Burhan Wani group, were killed.

The Jasih, police believe, is trying to take the pressure off the local militants from the security forces especially in south Kashmir.

Two days back, Jaish tried to blow up a Mine Protecting Vehicle (MPV) of the Army with an IED at Shopian. Three soldiers were injured in the incident

Last year, the group blew up a police vehicle at Sopore to mark the death anniversary of Afzal Guru on February 9. Five policemen were killed in the attack.

This is the second time that Jaish has pushed a large group of militants into Kashmir.

A big group of well-armed and trained Jaish militants had succeeded in infiltrating into Poonch, from where they traveled to Kashmir.

Most of the major attacks last year were carried by the same group.

The first was on August 27, when three fidayeen entered the District Police Lines Pulwama and killed eight security men—four policemen and four CRPF personnel. The three fidayeen were killed after a 16-hour long gunfight.

The second attack was launched on a CRPF camp at Lethpora, Pulwama on Srinagar-Jammu national highway, in which five CRPF men were killed and four injured on December 31. Two of the fidayeen were locals boys, Fardeen Khandey and Manzoor Baba of Hayen and Drabgund in Pulwama. The third fidayeen, Muhammad Shakir, was a Pakistani. The attack took place four days after Jaish commander Noor Mohammad Tantray alias Noor Trali was killed in an encounter.

The three fidayeen, for the first time, used steel-coated bullets that pierced the bulletproof vests of the CRPF men and also damaged a vehicle.

The third attack by the members of the group on Sunjwan Army camp on February 11 had caught the security establishment in Kashmir by surprise. The attack, about which the intelligence agencies had sounded an alert, came on the fifth death anniversary of Afzal Guru, who was hanged ten years after he was sentenced to death by Supreme Court for aiding Jaish fidayeen who attacked Parliament on December 13, 2001.