In the wake of the May 13 Katra bus fire incident where a sticky bomb is suspected to have been used by suspected terrorists leading to four deaths, the security forces are reportedly busy preparing drills to guard against such incidents during the upcoming Amarnath Yatra in Kashmir.
Sources said the threat of sticky bombs being used to target pilgrims is being taken seriously by the security establishment. “Threat of IED attacks has always been there and for that, we have decided that the entire route for the yatra in both the Pahalgam and Baltal axes will be sanitised to ensure there are no IEDs on the roads. However, sticky bombs, which can be surreptitiously attached to a vehicle, are a new threat this year. Drills are being prepared to guard against it,” a central security force officer said.
Sources said some of the ways being discussed are drivers of buses and other vehicles being trained in spotting sticky bombs and being alert to bikes coming closer to their vehicles while ferrying pilgrims. “Generally, terrorists attach sticky bombs when a vehicle stops at a traffic signal or for any other reason. Drivers will be trained to be extra careful at such times. Maybe one person can alight from the vehicle at such times and keep a watch,” an officer said.
A bus carrying pilgrims from Jammu to Katra on May 13 caught fire after an explosion near the fuel tanks near Khanak, around 1.5 km from Katra. Four people had died in the incident while more than 20 were injured. Initially, the Jammu Police had termed it as a simple case of the engine catching fire due to some technical fault. However, following examination of the spot and the bus, security agencies increasingly started believing that it was a terror attack where a sticky bomb, which uses magnets, was attached to the fuel tank.
The incident has cast a shadow on the Amarnath Yatra, which will be the first after the August 5, 2019 decisions that stripped the state of its special status. In the wake of the recent killings of migrants and Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley, security agencies have flagged heightened threat to the yatra.
Sources said the government has decided to deploy extra security forces this year. “A demand for the exact number of companies has not yet been received from Jammu and Kashmir Police. However, our expectation is that there will be more than 400 companies (40,000 personnel) of central armed police force (CAPF) deployed to ensure security of the Amarnath Yatra. In 2019, as many as 318 companies were deployed,” an officer said.
Following a review meeting of security arrangements for the Yatra by Union Home Minister Amit Shah earlier this month, the J&K administration had announced that not only would all vehicles ferrying pilgrims be RFID tagged this year, but also will every pilgrim get an RFID tag. Sources said this will help security forces to determine how many pilgrims exit a camp at a time and reach the next police picket on the route and whether everyone reaches safely. The administration has also announced that each pilgrim will be insured for Rs 5 lakh for the yatra.
Apart from this, there will be access control checking gadgets that will be deployed both at the Pahalgam and Baltal routes, sources said. Apart from these, the entire route will be monitored in realtime with drones, sources said. Vehicles ferrying pilgrims will also be asked only to leave in convoys with police security so that they are not isolated for attacks. In 2017, militants had attacked a pilgrim bus in Anantnag district leaving nine yatris dead and several injured. The bus had not followed the convoy mandate set by the security forces then.Sources said the ministry of home affairs has already asked intelligence agencies to remain on high alert and generate actionable intelligence that can lead to successful operations ahead of the yatra. The police are also likely to round up suspected overground workers of various terror groups in the Valley ahead of the yatra.
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