'A man with a gun commanded respect. I thought if I also got a gun, I could save my family. With this thought, I went to Pakistan and got training there'
'Terrorists who are active in Poonch and Rajouri are not relying on random locals for logistics, guidance etc.' 'They are being supported by a selected few who are being vetted, cleared and directed from across the LoC.'
Villagers living near the International Border and Line of Control in Jammu are on high alert following the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, preparing underground bunkers and accelerating crop harvesting. The incident has heightened security concerns despite a renewed ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan in 2021. Residents are demanding swift action against the perpetrators and their handlers.
'Pakistan's only concern has been while they were on the FATF watch list was to distance their State institutions and organs from any direct connection with the actual execution of militancy inside Kashmir.'
Nineteen years later, remembering how terror struck Mumbai's lifeline on July 11, 2006.
'It could take the form of sporadic LoC violation through heavy artillery and mortar fire, focusing on border villages where the Hindu Dogra population is predominant.'
'The government has to explain (to the army, air force and navy chiefs) whether they want a punitive strike, a deep punitive strike, or whether they want limited war or an all-out war, will it be a circumscribed war or will it be a shallow attack along the border.'
Opposition parties in India, including the Congress, Left parties, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP), have unanimously hailed the armed forces' "Operation Sindoor", a retaliatory strike against terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The operation, which involved missile and drone strikes, was conducted in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. Despite political differences, all parties expressed support for the government and the armed forces, stressing the importance of national unity and integrity in the face of terrorism. While emphasizing the need for diplomatic avenues to prevent further escalation, some parties also called for caution in attributing political credit for the strikes.
The Jammu and Kashmir assembly unanimously passed a resolution on Monday expressing shock and anguish over the terrorist attack in Pahalgam and resolved to fight resolutely to defeat the nefarious designs to disturb communal harmony and hinder progress.
At least 27 terrorists were killed and 155 passengers rescued by the security forces after Baloch militants hijacked a passenger train in a tunnel in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province on Tuesday, security officials said.
Punjab Police have arrested two key operatives of the banned organization Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) who had direct links to Pakistan-based terrorist Harwinder Singh Rinda and US-based gangster Happy Passian. The accused, Jagdish Singh alias Jagga and Shubhdeep Singh Aulakh alias Shubh, were instructed to carry out targeted killings in Punjab as part of a larger coordinated terror operation. Jagdish is a key shooter involved in a murder case in Maharashtra two weeks ago. Both accused were arrested from Mohali and a case has been registered under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Arms Act at SSOC police station, Mohali.
Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI, is reportedly using individuals under the influence of drugs or posing as mentally disturbed to infiltrate India and deliver messages to terrorists in prisons. Officials have reported over 10 such cases since July, with individuals entering from Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and being sent to prisons in Jammu, Punjab, and Rajasthan. Security agencies suspect these individuals are couriers tasked with relaying communication to jailed terrorists. The ISI's tactic is believed to be a response to the increased use of technology in communication, which leaves behind electronic footprints. This method of infiltration has also been linked to drug smuggling operations. The ISI's current tactic is reminiscent of its past use of "sawari operators" on the Samjhauta Express for covert operations, which were effectively curtailed by authorities.
Pakistan has sought from India voice recordings of the persons identified as 'handlers' by Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist arrested for the Mumbai attacks, and other technical information to carry forward its probe into the incident.
China has put a hold on a proposal moved at the United Nations by the United States and co-supported by India to designate Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Sajid Mir, one of India's most wanted terrorists and the main handler of the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks, as a global terrorist.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has made public the phone numbers and emails addresses of the alleged Inter-Services INtelligence handlers of Ghulam Nabi Fai arrested in Washington for collaborating with the Pakistani spy agency by funnelling money to influence United States policy on Kashmir.
The attack, which claimed the lives of seven individuals, including a local doctor and two labourers from Bihar, has raised concerns about the unreported trend of local youths joining terrorist groups in Kashmir during this period.
It said two of the key accused were Islamic State of Iraq and Syria radicals, who used fraudulently obtained "Indian SIM cards and Indian bank accounts" besides "various Indian and Bangladeshi Identity documents downloaded from the dark web (which is accessible only through specialised browsers) in carrying out their nefarious activities.
The ATS, in a brief note, said the four accused, who were arrested from the airport, were Sri Lankan citizens and terrorists of the Islamic State.
The four-year-old Labrador and her handler Bashir Ahmed War laid down their lives to prevent an infiltration bid by terrorists in north Kashmir.
This was revealed in the court on Wednesday through CDs, which contained recorded telephone talks between the attackers and their Pakistan-based handlers intercepted during the siege.
The bodies of two village defence guards (VDG) killed by terrorists were found near a rivulet on Friday during a massive search operation in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district, officials said.
To counter the threat and thwart the attempts of Pakistan-based handlers to spread terror in the peaceful areas of the region, officials said the Army, in close synergy with the police and the central armed police forces, has launched relentless operations in the vulnerable regions, especially in the dense forests.
A police spokesman in Doda said they are moving in the upper reaches of the district especially in Dessa forest where an army captain and three soldiers were killed in a gunfight during an anti-terror operation on July 16.
Surat police commissioner Anupam Singh Gehlot identified the arrested accused as Maulvi Sohel Abubakr Timol (27), who worked at a thread factory as a manager and offered private tuition on Islam to Muslim children.
They said police parties fanned out to find them amid reports that they had been abducted and killed by terrorists.
The Sri Lanka police on Wednesday said a senior deputy inspector general will head a team appointed to investigate four of its citizens arrested in Gujarat when on an alleged mission to carry out terror activities in India at the behest of the banned Islamic State.
A Pakistan intelligence officer, allegedly in touch with DRDO scientist Pradeep Kurulkar arrested on charges of leaking confidential information after he was apparently honey-trapped, had also contacted an Indian Air Force employee of corporal rank, a Maharashtra ATS official said on Tuesday.
Once identified, these individuals are drawn into private groups where they are exposed to manipulative content, including fabricated videos depicting atrocities allegedly committed by security forces, the officials said.
Shoaib Ahmed Mirza alias Chhotu (35), a resident of Hubbali city in Karnataka, is the fifth person to be arrested in the case, they said.
A day after terror outfit Indian Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the Varanasi blast, Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjeev Dayal on Wednesday said handlers of the outlawed organisation are in Pakistan and are running the 'game' from there.Asked who the main players were, the commissioner replied, "Definitely Bhatkal brothers."
The decision to bring the two face-to-face was taken after Jundal made some revelations during his interrogation about training being imparted to terrorists in Pakistan and that he had taught Hindi to the 26/11 attackers, crime branch sources said on Monday.
Sengathir said that during the interrogation Narendra Kumar said that about two years ago, he came in contact with an account running in the name of "Poonam Bajwa" on Facebook.
The raids were conducted at the premises of suspects in Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh, Gir Somnath district of Gujarat, Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh and Kozhikode district of Kerala, leading to the seizure of incriminating documents and digital devices, a spokesperson of the federal agency said.
The Bengaluru police investigating the terror plot in Karnataka may turn to the Interpol to probe conversations between the arrested youths and their handlers overseas. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Watching the 2008 Mumbai carnage live from Pakistan, terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba handlers guided the attackers on phone and even asked them to change tactics to challenge the advancing commandos.
Reliance on technical intelligence has not been fruitful as terrorists use online activity to mislead authorities. Officials feel that there is an urgent need for heightened surveillance to counter foreign terrorists, especially in the Jammu region.
Delhi Police on Monday arrested one of National Investigation Agency's (NIA) most wanted terrorists Mohammad Shahnawaz Alam and his two associates who were part of an Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)-sponsored module 'disguised' as an Islamic State (IS) module and seized incriminating material, including those suspected to be used in an improvised explosive device (IED) fabrication, officials said.
The ten Pakistani terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008 could have been guided by an Indian handler whose true identity was yet to be ascertained, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Thursday.
'The jungles of Doda covers about 250 km.' 'Sleeper cells are providing active help to the terrorists.' 'The terrain and situation is such that it is not possible to keep track of every inch.'
Pakistani investigators are looking into a list of six individuals, including three former army officers, named by India for acting as controllers and handlers of the terrorists who carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The names of several of these six individuals had cropped up during investigations by Indian and American law enforcement agencies but they have so far not officially been made part of Pakistan's probe into the Mumbai incident.
