Militants behind the attack on an Indian Air Force (IAF) convoy at Surankote in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district, which left one jawan dead and four others injured, remained untraced on Sunday even as helicopters provided aerial support for combing operations in the forest area.
A high alert has been sounded in the Rajouri-Poonch belt after the attack on Saturday. Top police and intelligence officials, including the Additional Director-General of Police, Jammu, inspected the ambush site. Official sources said security agencies suspect the use of metal-piercing bullets fired from U.S.-made M4 carbines.
Sources also said security forces questioned a number of people to gather information on those who provided logistic support to the militants. According to preliminary reports, the militants belonged to a group that had sneaked in recently from the Samba-Kathua belt of Jammu into Rajouri-Poonch.
VPN ban
One person was arrested by the police for using a Virtual Private Networking (VPN) application on his mobile. The authorities had banned the use of VPN in the Rajouri-Poonch belt. A police spokesman said Mazhar Iqbal, 30, from Dhanore Jaralan village, Rajouri, was booked under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code.
“Mr. Iqbal was intercepted by a naka [checkpoint] party and was found with Thunder VPN app on his mobile phone,” the police said.
All kinds of VPNs are banned till the culmination of the Lok Sabha election in the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat. The election is scheduled on May 25.
Meanwhile, president of the State Congress unit Vikar Rasool said, “The tall and hollow claims of the BJP have yet again been exposed by the terrorist attack in Poonch. The situation has worsened in the Rajouri-Poonch area under the BJP rule.”
National Conference president Dr. Farooq Abdullah said the BJP’s claim that Article 370 was responsible for terrorism now stands exposed. “Only dialogue between India and Pakistan can end threat in the region,” Dr. Abdullah said.
