Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU/NEW DELHI, Oct 7: A probe into September 26 twin terror attacks at Hiranagar police station in Kathua district and Mehsar Army camp in Samba district has found lapses in patrolling by the Border Security Force (BSF) along the International Border and reached the conclusion that militants crossed over through an unfenced vulnerable arch full of elephant grass in Paharpur area of Hiranagar sector.
“The militants had crossed through confluence of Chhap and Bashira Nullah in Paharpur, where there was no fencing while the border fence in some of the areas had been washed away due to floods in the Nullahs triggered by Monsoon rains,” official sources said.
They said the probe has found that the three militants, who carried out the audacious attacks in Jammu killing 10 people, including four army men, four police personnel and two civilians, had entered India by crossing a small unfenced area along a rivulet.
“BSF patrolling in the area was not foolproof and seemed to have been lax as no guard could detect the movement of the terrorists despite the border being highly sensitive,” sources said.
According to the sources, heavily armed Pakistani terrorists, suspected to be belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) or Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) outfits, crossed the IB and reached a graveyard in Jhandi village, close to the border, before reaching first populated village of Hariya Chak, where they hijacked a load carrier and unleashed twin terror attacks on September 26.
After inspection the security forces found no breach in the barbed wire fencing in the area indicating that the militants had sneaked in from the Nullahs. The militants had reportedly crossed into Indian from the banks of Chhap Nullah and Bashira Nullah, both of which flow together along the International Border, sources said.
“Besides, it is impossible for anyone to cross over the fence and hence the only path the militants could have taken to come to India was by crossing the unfenced area,” sources said.
The security forces were certain that the three militants were Pakistanis as they had little knowledge about the geography of the area, they said, adding the militants were using Compass frequently to know the direction of Jammu-Pathankote National Highway.
The militants were in possession of Compass and not Global Positioning System (GPS). The Compass was seized in Samba, sources said.
Dressed in army fatigues, the militants had stormed a police station in Hiranagar and then an Army camp of 16 Cavalry Unit at Mehsar, Samba. They killed four police personnel and four Army soldiers including Lt Col Bikramjeet Singh before being eliminated by the Army in its camp.
Excelsior had exclusively reported that the militants had infiltrated on the intervening night of September 25 and 26 through Chhap and Bashira Nullah in Paharpur area of Hiranagar sector along with large quantity of arms, ammunition and explosive devices.
Apart from the BSF inquiry, Army has also ordered a Court of Inquiry into Mehsar Army camp attack while the State Government has ordered a probe into the police lapses by Principal Secretary (Home) Suresh Kumar. Kathua police have also constituted a Special Investigating Team (SIT) to probe the lapses in which the then SHO Hiranagar Inspector Raj Kumar Padha and three police personnel at Londi Naka had been suspended.
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