Azhar Qadri

The 100-km stretch of heavily guarded road between southern tip of the Kashmir valley and Srinagar city has remained a target of militants but now security forces are facing a new challenge: the suicide bomber.

A lone militant who rammed an explosive-laden vehicle on Thursday afternoon into a paramilitary convoy at Lethpora village, on the highway outside Srinagar city, has changed the security dynamics in the region.

The high death toll in Thursday’s attack has also unveiled chinks in the security apparatus, which had otherwise drafted fool-proof measures to secure the volatile stretch of the highway.

The attack-prone stretch of the Srinagar-Jammu highway, which is a crucial supply route for civilians as well as for troops, lies in south Kashmir where the road borders several districts where militant presence remains high.

Sources in the security agencies said militants frequently targeted convoys along the highway as it was “very easy” for them to “get in and out of the highway” which has multiple connecting roads with villages across south Kashmir where militants maintain safe-houses.

“The national highway is the primary road link to Kashmir so at any given moment there is always some dignitary or some security vehicle on the move,” a senior paramilitary official said.

The suicide attack took place in one of the most secure and highly guarded patch of the highway where it leaves the jurisdiction of militant-dominated south Kashmir and nears Srinagar city.

Even though the attacks along the southern stretch of the highway have taken place in recent years, Thursday’s attack was a game changer in many ways as it marked a comeback of suicide bombers. Though there have been only a few similar attacks with the last one having taken place nearly two decades ago, Thursday’s incident has sent shock waves through the security apparatus. The attack took place despite counter-measures and a rigid deployment to protect the highway.

The attack had three significant takeaways: Militants have the craftsmanship to build such massive bombs, they have the recruits to carry out such suicidal missions and that the highway is a target.

In past years, militants have managed to carry out back-to-back attacks along the highway even though there had been a brief lull last year.

The attacks during the recent years, however, were restricted to ambushes.

In a major highway attack in June 2016, two militants had ambushed a convoy of CRPFvehicles near Pampore town and pinned at least one vehicle with a heavy volume of fire in which eight personnel were killed and 20 were injured.

In another major attack in June 2013, the militants had ambushed an Army convoy on Srinagar’s outskirts in which eight soldiers were killed.

Convoys targeted earlier too

• In a major highway attack in June 2016, two militants had ambushed a convoy of Central Reserve Police Force vehicles near Pampore town and pinned at least one vehicle with a heavy volume of fire in which eight personnel were killed and 20 were injured
• In another major attack in June 2013, the militants had ambushed an Army convoy on Srinagar’s outskirts in which eight soldiers were killed

Courtesy:The Tribune,16 Feb,2019