Armed to the teeth, familiar with jungle warfare, cloaked in stealth: The terrorists that security forces are up against in J&K

Indian Express

01-05-2025

Battle-hardened, mostly Pakistanis nationals who are trained in jungle warfare, armed with advanced rifles and communication gadgets, and men who rarely emerge out of the forests – over the last four years, that has been the profile of the Jammu and Kashmir terrorist that the security establishment is up against as they deal with terror strikes such as the April 22 attack on tourists in Pahalgam.
These men have carried out deadly attacks — first on the Poonch-Rajouri and south Kashmir axis and then on the Kathua, Udhampur, Doda, Kishtwar and south Kashmir axis — not only bringing Jammu 's Pir Panjal region on the militancy map after two decades but also spreading terror into mainland Jammu for the first time.
Theirs is a world removed from Burhan Wani and his crop of militants who emerged in 2015, posing with their guns and with their photographs splashed across social media. But without any special arms training and little battle experience, they were an easier target for the security forces.
'We have been fighting terrorism for more than three decades now; this is real guerrilla warfare. We have observed over the last two years that these terrorists have military training, are armed with US-made rifles and have bullet-proof jackets and steel bullets with them,' said a senior police officer. 'From their training and weapons, we can't rule out the presence of Pakistani army regulars or retired commissioned officers among them.'
'They usually move in a group of three to four members and at least one of them is armed with an M4 carbine, the officer said. Considered the defining assault rifle of the 21st century, the US-made M4 carbine is used by American combat units. The lightweight rifle, which weighs less than 3 kg, can fire up to 900 rounds in a minute and can effectively aim at its target in a range of half a kilometre. 'This makes it an effective weapon, especially in jungle warfare as they (terrorists) don't need to get into close combat'.
The M4 rifles, police officials say, are often fitted with underbarrel weapons and optical attachments like telescopic sights and night vision devices that make it an effective weapon during the night as well.
Leveraging topography
The terrorists have used the topography of the region to their advantage, the dense forest cover that extends from Kathua in Jammu to south Kashmir in the Valley providing them a natural shelter and a safe transit route.
Officers say the men have adapted to the harsh weather in the mountainous forests of the Valley, where temperatures often plummet to below minus 15 degrees in winter.
On the nature of the forest, a field botanist and researcher from Kashmir University said, 'The mountain range is covered by evergreen conifer trees. On the side of Kashmir, we have Himalayan pine and Himalayan spruce that grow up to a height of 60 metres. On the Jammu side, we have oak trees. These forests have a green cover throughout the year. The forests are so dense that the visibility doesn't extend beyond 30-35 meters. At places, the visibility is less than 10 meters.'
Besides the tall trees, the forests are covered by dense cranberry bush, a shrub that grows above human height and berberis, a plant that grows up to 13 feet.
'These forests are away from human habitation and are inaccessible because of their terrain. Thus, even timber smugglers haven't been able to access them,' he said. 'These forests are so dense that it is even difficult for the drones to navigate inside them'.
A senior police officer said that it was the continuous pressure mounted by security agencies that forced the terrorists to shift towards the jungles.
'We made their survival tough in the urban pockets. We acted strictly against people who provided them shelter. We have a three-decade-long expertise in urban warfare, and the information was pinpointed. Our target was a house or a cluster of houses at most. But in these jungles, we have to hunt for tens of kilometres.'
Their shift to the jungles also means little information comes out. Counter-insurgency officials say the men have managed to stay under the radar by either avoiding communication gadgets or using sophisticated satellite phones.
'They don't leave any digital footprint,' said an officer who has been working in South Kashmir. 'They either use the new Chinese communication technology or simply make use of offline devices. We have information that they are even using the offline maps to move from place to place. In some cases, we recovered Chinese Ultraset phones from them.'
In parts of the Jammu region, such as Kishtwar, Udhampur and Doda, the terrain is so inaccessible that it takes about two days to reach there by foot. 'Since the digital footprint is missing, we solely rely on human intelligence,' said an Army officer posted in Kishtwar. 'After we get the input, it takes us a day to reach there. By that time, the terrorists are already somewhere else.'
'In jungle warfare, the one who is stationary has an advantage and the one who is moving is at a disadvantage,' he said.
Human intelligence has dried up too. The Gujjar and Bakerwal community 'have walked away from this (information sharing) long back. They are vulnerable and have no incentive,' said a police officer.
A senior Army officer said the terrorists plan the attacks 'in detail'. 'They sometimes plan for months, do reconnaissance before an attack. They plan their escape routes beforehand,' he said. 'Take the example of the Baisaran attack (on tourists). It seems they had calculated the reaction time of the forces. They knew they would have to travel on foot and it would take them an hour.'