Security agencies have identified the driver of a taxi that ferried militants behind the June 25 attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy at Pampore in which eight personnel were killed and 22 others critically injured. However, the authorities have withheld the identity of the driver.
Security forces suspect that the cab driver, who took the infiltrators from north Kashmir’s Tangmarg area to Pulwama in south Kashmir before they struck the convoy, has gone underground, raising suspicions that he might have joined the militant ranks formally.
Sources said the driver picked up four lashkar-e-Tayyeba militants from Baba Reshi area in Baramulla district, a few days before the attack.
He dropped the militants in a village within the jurisdiction of police district Awantipora. The militants are believed to have carried out reconnaissance of the area before the attack. They had chosen a congested spot on National Highway 44 where traffic slows down.
The driver, who has gone underground since the attack, was considered as over ground worker of the militant outfit by the local police but no action was taken against him as there was no evidence so far, the sources said. Security forces suspect that he might have formally joined the militants after being exposed.
After arriving on the encounter site on June 25, two of the four militants disembarked from the car and opened a volley of fire on the bus packed with troopers.
The bus was part of a six-vehicle CRPF convoy that was returning from a day-long exercise at a firing range. A Quick Reaction Team (QRT) of the CRPF killed the two attackers but the initial bursts by the terrorists had quickly done the damage.
Officials said that the four militants had recently infiltrated through the upper reaches of Gulmarg. This sector has rarely been used by the militants for infiltration.
The slain militants have not been identified as yet. Officials said that one of the two militants who were killed by security forces at Malwari Newa village, on June 30, was also part of the team that attacked the CRPF.
Investigations have revealed that the four terrorists had carried out a reconnaissance of National Highway 44 and chosen the spot which is barely three km from Entrepreneurship Development Institute, to attack the convoy as it is in a congested area.
The Pampore attack shook the security grid in Kashmir as it took place despite the fact that the security forces were on high alert, having received a warning that militants were planning a deadly strike in Pampore area.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh last week arrived here to assess the situation in the backdrop of the Pampore attack. He had already dispatched a three-member team of Home Ministry officials to review the situation. The team visited the encounter site at Pampore and two other sites where militants carried out deadly strikes last month.
Sources said the security agencies are worried over the growing number of infiltration bids. They said that a sizeable number of militants have sneaked into the Kashmir Valley.