Army looking into reports of snipers entering Kashmir Valley: Rawat
What's the story
Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said today that the Army was looking into reports of snipers entering the Kashmir Valley to target defense personnel and that the pattern of the attacks is being studied.
Three defense personnel were killed in the sniper attacks by Jaish-e-Mohammed since mid-September, prompting law enforcement agencies to re-calibrate their strategy to thwart such strikes by the Pakistan-based group.
Information
Still studying whether attacks were carried out by snipers: Rawat
Rawat further said the security force was carrying out a study to ascertain whether the attacks were carried out by snipers and it's "premature" to say snipers have come into the Valley and "that they have sniper weapons" since they "haven't found any sniper weapon."
Intelligence reports
Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists entered Kashmir in September: Security Agencies
Based on intelligence inputs, security agencies believe that at least two separate 'buddy' groups of the proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammed comprising two terrorists each entered Kashmir Valley in early September.
They have entrenched themselves in South Kashmir with the help of some overground supporters of the outfit.
Officials believe that the terrorists, armed with M-4 carbines, have been thoroughly trained by Pakistan's external snooping agency ISI.
Evidence
'I always believe in commenting when I have concrete evidence'
Rawat, however, said normal weapons could have been used to target the security personnel in the recent attacks as a good rifle has the range of 200-300 meters.
"I always believe in commenting when I have concrete evidence... to say that, yes, we have been able to trace some snipers and that we're fully aware that people have been trained in sniping," he added.