Over 500 detained as police hunt Valley’s lone active terrorist after Kulgam attack

Security forces have stepped up search operations in Kulgam after three Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were injured in a terror strike earlier this week. The police have detained over 500 youth for questioning over the last three days, The Indian Express has learnt.

With the Valley's lone active terrorist, Lateef Ahmad Bhat, back under the scanner, the police are trying to establish if he has joined a group of foreign Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) cadres or set up a new module of local recruits.

Over the past three days, the police have detained over 500 youth for questioning from different parts of South Kashmir, especially Kulgam. Police sources say that while most of the detained youth have been released after questioning, some are still in custody.

“Most of the youth who were picked up had, at some time in the past, come on police radar for their support to terrorists,” said a police officer. “They were picked up for questioning about (Wednesday's) attack. Most of them have been released.” On Wednesday, three paramilitary personnel were injured when terrorists fired on a security checkpoint near Akhran in South Kashmir's Kulgam.

The attack happened when Lt Governor Manoj Sinha was in the town to inaugurate the Veshow festival. With Lateef Ahmad Bhat, a resident of Khrewan Chadder in Kulgam, the only active terrorist on the security radar, police suspect he is behind Wednesday's attack.

Police, however, are trying to establish if Bhat has joined a group of LeT operatives active in the Pir Panjal mountains connecting south Kashmir with the Jammu region or whether he has been able to recruit locals into his group.

"This is the time when terrorists operating in higher reaches come down towards habitations because of extreme weather up in the mountains," said a police officer. "They have likely joined with him. But we can't rule out the possibility that he (Bhat) has been joined by new recruits".

Bhat has been on police radar since his associate Zakir Ganai was killed in a gunfight in south Kashmir. Bhat and Ganai were captured on a security camera, and as a joint team of forces cordoned off the Shopian village, Bhat managed to escape.

Ganai, who recruited Bhat, however, was killed. On July 21, a constable with J-K Police's counter-insurgency force, Special Operations Group (SOG), was killed in South Kashmir's Anantnag town. The killing, captured on camera, showed a terrorist firing at the policeman from point-blank range.

Police claim the militant captured on camera was Bhat. Nine days later, two brick kiln labourers were killed in Killam village of south Kashmir's Kulgam. Police again blamed Bhat for these killings. On August 7, police pasted posters in south Kashmir announcing a reward for information leading to Bhat.

Police say the 22-year-old is the only surviving terrorist in the Valley. The joint team of forces has intensified cordon and search operations in Kulgam and stepped up surprise checks of vehicles across South Kashmir. Bashaarat Masood is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express.

He has been covering Jammu and ... Read More