The NATO forces’ most sophisticated M-4 rifles enabled with night vision device and telescope recovered from two Pakistani terrorists killed in a joint operation of the Army and Jammu and Kashmir police in Kathua district indicates that these arms were pilfered from Afghanistan by Pakistan’s ISI for arming terrorists, J-K DGP R R Swain said on Thursday.

The two terrorists were eliminated in a gunfight at Khandara near the Basantgarh area in the Kathua district.

J&K DGP RR Swain said, “The recovery of a large amount of arms and ammunition especially M-series rifles enabled with NVD and telescope underlines that these foreign mercenaries have been sent equipped with pilfered arms and ammunition used by NATO forces in another international war theatre.”

The DGP congratulated the gallant soldiers of White Knight Corps, Rising Star Corps based in the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh’s Yole camp and indomitable fighters of J&K Police who in a highly coordinated operation successfully neutralized the two foreign terrorists in the high mountains and jungle on inter-district boundary between Kathua and Udhampur.

The White Knight Corps of the Northern Command and the Rising Star Corps of the Western Command of the Indian Army in a well coordinated operation neutralised the two highly trained terrorists who were operating in the area for past some time and are believed to be involved in the killing of four soldiers, including a Captain, in the jungles of the Doda district.

Recovery of M-4 carbines from killed terrorists has now become a regular feature that was a cause of worry for the security forces.

Apprehensions of the sophisticated arms and ammunition falling in the hands of Pakistani terrorists were expressed in 2021 when the US Army and other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) forces pulled out of Afghanistan leaving behind piles of their weapons.

About 7,000 Pakistani terrorists operating in Afghanistan along with the Taliban are believed to have returned to their native country carrying the weaponry abandoned by the NATO forces.

The modern weaponry being used by terrorists has claimed the lives of about 43 soldiers in the Jammu region in the past few months. During the initial years, terrorists were generally using the INSAS rifles that subsequently changed to AK-47 and AK-56. But the sudden arrival of US made M-4 rifles has given a turn to Pakistan sponsored terrorism in J&K as these fire steel bullets that can pierce through the bullet-proof shield.

M-4 rifles were rarely recovered in the past. The first one was recovered on 7 November 2017 when Talha Rashid Masood, a nephew of the Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar, was killed in an encounter in Pulwama. The next year another M-4 was recovered when Masood Azhar’s other nephew Usman Ibrahim was killed in Pulwama.

M-4 carbine is now being used by terrorists in all major attacks across J&K. This weapon is believed to have been used by terrorists recently in Kathua and Doda districts where 5 and 4 soldiers respectively lost their lives. It was also used in ambushing a pilgrims bus in Reasi where 9 persons were killed and 41 injured.

The M-4 carbine with greater manoeuvrability is a lightweight, gas-operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed and shoulder-fired weapon with a collapsible stock in service since 1994.

Meanwhile, security forces have recovered a substantial quantity of ammunition and explosives in Kashmir’s Kupwara district, a defence spokesman said on Thursday.

Based on specific intelligence inputs, a joint operation by Army and Police was launched in the Keran Sector, Kupwara. Searches in the indicated area have led to the recovery of a very large cache of arms, ammunition and explosives including AK 47 rounds, hand grenades, RPG rounds, material for Improvised Explosive Devices and other war-like stores.