Serious security lapses could have helped elite Pakistan Special Services Group (SSG) commandos to carry out the raid in Poonch on Tuesday and kill five Indian soldiers.
The Army is likely to hold a detailed enquiry into the lapses, sources said, adding, “it’s baffling how so many enemy soldiers evaded round- the-clock surveillance with the help of thermal imagers and night vision devices of the Indian Army.”
Army bosses are also upset over the fact that for almost four hours after the attack, no one on the Indian side was aware that a raid had taken place.
They are also surprised as to how the attackers managed to escape by successfully negotiating the anti-personnel minefield.These facts came to light during Army Chief General Bikram Singh’s on-the spot assessment of the incident with local commanders in Akhnoor on Wednesday. The Army Chief gave this feedback to Defence Minister AK Antony during a 30-minute briefing here on Thursday. Sources said the Army Chief expressed unhappiness over these lapses leading to the ambush.
Giving details about the lapses, sources said the commandos also managed to pierce at least two tiers of Army cordons while sneaking in and escaping. These cordons are placed on the line of Control (loC) to check infiltration and to capture or kill militants. “The incident points to laxity in maintaining vigil,” an official said.
Explaining the pattern of deployment of thermal imagers and nigh vision devices, sources said all the posts on the loC are equipped with these devices to continuously monitor their area of responsibility.
Every battalion, stretched over an area of ten to 12 kms, is equipped with more than 15 thermal imagers, which can detect human movement in all kinds of weather up to a distance of two kms.
Besides these imagers, troops are also equipped with night vision binoculars and goggles for surveillance. Surprisingly, despite these sophisticated equipments, the Pakistani commandos managed to sneak in undetected at least 450 metres inside India.
As regards the four-hour delay, sources said the ill-fated patrol party lost touch with the base centre via radio network and search parties rushed to the spot in the morning and stumbled upon their dead bodies around 5.30 a.m.According to local reports from Jammu, the commandos used automatic weapons fitted with silencers and fired 20 to 30 bullets on every soldier.
Also, the fact that the Indian soldiers were outnumbered by the Pakistani raid team and had no assistance from nearby posts, exposed the ground reality of area domination drills on infiltration routes along the loC, they said.
An Army officer, who has served in the area told The Pioneer, the strength of the area domination patrol is decided by the local commander on the basis of variety of factors.
“The enemy location, nature of terrain and the distance between two adjoining posts are the three crucial factors which determine the strength of the area domination patrol at different locations.”
The officer said in this case it is difficult to say “whether the field commanders on ground zero had made any tactical error of reducing the strength of the area domination patrol or the large portions of the thickly vegetated, undulating terrain was left unmanned due to which the raiders managed to come at least 450 metres deep inside the Indian territory to carry out the ‘hit and run’ operation.”
After the beheading of lance Naik Hemraj in Mankote sector of Poonch by the Pakistani troops on January 8, the standard operating procedures were reportedly amended and the local commanders were directed not to dilute the strength of the area domination patrol. The probe will focus on whether the commanders adhered to this directive or not, officials said.