From safe houses to subterranean sanctuaries: Terror outfits change tactics in J&K

In a change of tactics, terror outfits in Jammu and Kashmir are now constructing elaborately-designed underground bunkers deep inside thick forests and elevated ridges instead of taking shelter in local houses, officials said on Sunday.

This tactical shift, fuelled by eroding local support, presents a new challenge to the Army and other security forces.

This came to fore last week during an encounter in the higher reaches of Kulgam district, where two terrorists were killed. As the operation progressed, security forces found a secret trench with rations, miniature gas stoves, and pressure cookers, as well as weapons and ammunition.

One senior security officer, requesting anonymity, said the trend has become widespread in the Kulgam and Shopian districts, as well as south of Pir Panjal in Jammu region where thick forests provide a perfect camouflage for terrorists.

Though security personnel have managed to trace a few of these new hideouts, officials are becoming increasingly worried, especially after getting intelligence inputs that terrorists have been asked to stay in higher and middle of ridges and carry out attacks when directed from across the border.

“It’s a troubling trend that indicates terrorists are now well-established inside these underground bunkers,” said an official. According to Lt Gen D S Hooda (retd), who led the successful 2016 surgical strikes, these high-altitude trenches and bunkers are reminiscent of tactics used by terrorists in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Lt Gen Hooda, who commanded the strategic Northern Command, also flagged a major issue of absence of human intelligence now, which was one of the main assets in previous counter-terrorism operations. Still, he is convinced that the Army will “re-evaluate its strategy” to address the new challenge.

Retired Director General of Puducherry Police, B Srinivas, who spent three decades with the J&K Police, echoed this assessment and said terrorists are being forced to build these bunkers because they can no longer rely on shelters in towns and villages.

With the local people increasingly turning their back on their separatist ideology, infiltrating terrorists are now utilising these secret trenches to evade detection by locals, who they now presume to be informers.

This would be a repetition of what was witnessed in ‘Operation Sarp Vinash’ back in 2003, when forces were able to target concealed terror camps in the Poonch area.

To counter this new challenge, security agencies are planning to employ technology to counter the threat and are seeking to deploy ground-penetrating radar (GPR)-equipped drones and seismic sensors for deployment during anti-terror operations.

Drones can reach the hard-to-access areas, whereas GPR and seismic sensors can identify underground voids and structural changes in the earth, thus making it possible to identify the location of such underground bunkers.

The immediate objective of the security grid becomes obvious, which is to improve intelligence in these forest belts and employ these fresh instruments to neutralise the remaining terrorists.

In the past, the Army faced the menace of underground bunkers and man-made cavities but that was in the residential areas, mainly in Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopian, in 2020-22.

Giving examples, the officials said there was a hideout in the middle of Rambi Ara, known for its fluctuating water levels and often affected by flash floods. The terrorists were hiding inside an iron bunker made in the middle of it. The troops saw an opening of an empty oil barrel which was subsequently used by the terrorists to enter the bunker.

During that period, reports of more cavities in the traditional Kashmiri households and underground bunkers started surfacing.