Pampore attackers slipped past check posts several times

NEW DELHI: The Maruti car carrying the two Lashkar-e-Toiba fidayeen involved in Saturday’s Pampore attack had passed through multiple check-posts (nakas), not only on way to the encounter site but also following the strike as it took the same route back to Srinagar.

Even though J&K police concedes that it got to know “immediately” of the ambush, which killed eight CRPF personnel and injured 22, it failed to intercept the car at the nakas.

“The car carrying the terrorists was driven by an overground worker from Srinagar to Pampore for a chance attack on a passing convoy of security forces. Even though the fidayeen were armed with AK-47s, grenades and deadly ammunition, they could clear multiple nakas on the way without a single check. If this was not alarming enough, the overground workers managed to drive off after dropping the terrorists and pass through the very same nakas without being stopped and checked by police, who by then had already learnt of the attack,” said a CRPF officer.

According to sources, the overground worker/workers, after having dropped the terrorists at Pampore, made their way back to Srinagar. The security agencies suspect they may be based in either Bemina or Parampore areas of the city, which have a concentration of Lashkar hideouts.

CRPF sources alleged that the failure of J&K police to intercept the assault car both on the way to the encounter site and back shows “sheer complacency and laxity” on its part. “The heavy dependence on army and central paramilitary force seems to have made J&K police complacent. Their failure to properly man the nakas, unfortunately, has led to our convoys being targeted at frequent intervals,” said an officer. When contacted, J&K DGP K Rajendra Kumar said what happened before and after the ambush “is a matter of investigation and it would not be proper for me to comment on it now”. “The details will be shared once the investigation is complete,” he told TOI.

Incidentally, a CRPF official cited a similar instance of “laxity” shown by J&K police during the June 4 Anantnag terror attack in which terrorists killed two police personnel and escaped in a car. The car was recovered a couple of days later and was found to have been reported as stolen the night before the attack.