Indications of the Afghanistan trained terrorists’ presence in the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch have come to the fore with the brutal manner in which bodies of four soldiers were mutilated after being ambushed in the area last week.

Furthermore, the terrorist group attacked the two vehicles carrying these soldiers with US made M-4 rifles. The M-4 rifles and other ammunition were abandoned during withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in 2021 and it has now fallen in the hands of Pakistan-backed terrorists, a defence source said here.

Following withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, reports have been coming in that with the return of terrorists from there, Pakistan’s ISI might pursue a more aggressive phase of terror in J&K, particularly in Rajouri and Poonch where peace has prevailed during the past 20 years.

Reports say that Afghan returned terrorists and retired soldiers of the Pakistan army were engaged in terror activities in the two districts.

The terrorists swiftly disappearing from the ambush spot at Dera-ki-Gali in the Rajouri Sector after mutilating the bodies of the soldiers indicates that they were trained in jungle warfare on the pattern of Pakistan’s Border Action Team (BAT). Joint teams of the Army, paramilitary forces and J&K Police have been combing the forest area for the past six days but have not yet been able to track the terrorists.

Terrorists in the twin districts along the LoC in the past too adopted the ‘hit and run’ strategy when in April they ambushed an Army truck at Bhatta-Durian in Poonch and escaped with rifles of the five soldiers killed in the attack. In the recent attack, the rifles of the soldiers were carried by terrorists, said a defence source.

The People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), which is a proxy outfit of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group, claimed responsibility for these attacks and also put on social media pictures of the looted rifles.

Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi recently said that some of the terrorists operating in the two districts were retired army personnel from Pakistan.

‘’Since our anti-terror operations are continuing, Pakistan’s attempt is to bring foreign terrorists and fuel terrorism because local recruitment is not happening. Therefore, our attempt is to eliminate foreign terrorists,’’ he said.

A few months ago, a retired havildar of the Pakistan Army was killed on the Indian side. He was operating with a group of seven heavily armed terrorists who fired armour-piercing bullets and tossed grenades that killed five Indian soldiers in the Bhatta-Durian area of Poonch.

Just last month, a highly ranked Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist named Quari was killed in an encounter in Rajouri. He was a Pakistani who was trained on the Pakistan and Afghan fronts, said a defence source.

Quari was the mastermind of the brutal targeted killing of seven people, including two children, in the Dhangri village of Rajouri on 1 January this year.

The strategy that is being witnessed now is that instead of towns and cities, terrorists have shifted their attacks at the Army troops in the forest areas of Rajouri and Poonch in the Pir-Panjal ranges where the ambushes are happening although the Indian Army has strengthened the anti-infiltration grid.

The rugged terrain and natural caves in the twin districts were providing ample of shelter to terrorists who seem to be well trained in jungle warfare. Terrorists take advantage of the thick undergrowth, large boulders and inhospitable terrain, an Army officer said.