Kashmir militancy may escalate, IB warns of more fidayeen strikes on security forces

The twin attacks in Srinagar in which three police personnel were killed is a grim reminder of how terrorist outfits are stepping up the ante. They are on over drive mode and are likely to carry out several such attacks in the days to come. It has become a race for groups such as the Hizbul Mujahideen who are desperately trying to outdo other terror outfits.

The problem however for the security agencies is that groups such as the Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the Hizbul Mujahideen are in competition mode. This means each one of these groups will be plotting attacks individually. Only a few hours after the twin strikes in Srinagar, the security agencies in another incident managed to gun down two Jaish-e-Mohammad operatives.

Fidayeen attacks to rise:

Intelligence Bureau officials have warned the number of fidayeen or suicide strikes in Jammu and Kashmir are likely to go up. Security has to be tight at all times and any let up would lead to a strike, the IB has warned. The IB further states that the attacks would target only the security forces.

The militants have decided that there would be no civilian casualty and the attacks would only be targeted at the army or the police. The decision not to target the civilians is an obvious one as they fear losing their support base. Terrorist groups do not want support which generates out of fear. Instead they want to show that they fighting for a cause against the Indian army.

The Hizbul Mujahideen in particular is looking for locals. They want more local youth to be roped into the outfit. They want to paint the picture that the battle in Kashmir is a local one and not a Pakistan proxy battle.