‘ISI trying to push militants to attack hinterland’

Pakistan’s ISI has intensified its attempts to push terrorists into India to carry out terror strike in hinterland, similar to last week’s Gurdaspur attack, official sources said today.

Quoting intelligence inputs, they said, there have been intensified attempts of infiltration by militants from across the border in recent past.

All these attempts were being made at the behest of ISI with the objective of carrying out terror attacks in hinterland, sources said.

The intelligence inputs suggested that a new strategy was hatched by ISI to expand the area of terror strike from Jammu and Kashmir and militants were being trained for the purpose, they said.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said in Lok Sabha that there were five infiltration attempts from across the border and four of which were foiled and eight militants were neutralised by the security forces in last one month.

On 27 July, three terrorists in army uniforms opened fire on a bus and then attacked the Dina Nagar police station in Gurdaspur district of Punjab.

The terrorists had sneaked into India from across the border taking advantage of an unfenced rivulet.

Three civilians and four policemen, including a superintendent of police, were killed and 15 others were injured in the attack.

In addition, five bombs were found planted on the Amritsar-Pathankot line on a rail-bridge near Parmanand railway station, five kilometres from the site of the attack.

The GPS, recovered from the three slain militants, show that the devices had coordinates of 13 places in Punjab stored in them that include two temples and a college.

In yet another attack, two BSF personnel were killed and 14 others were injured when two militants attacked a BSF convoy on Udhampur yesterday.