NEW DELHI: Weapons that pose a greater threat were recovered by the security forces during the several operations conducted by them following the series of terror strikes in Jammu region, officials said on Monday.
Majority of the weapons were either used by Taliban terrorists earlier or were abandoned by the American soldiers before leaving Afghanistan, officials added.
The security officials said the weapon recovery trends showed that they are now being brought to Kashmir via Pakistan. The officials further added that these weapons include deadly US-made M4 carbine assault rifles that can fire 700-970 rounds of steel bullets in 1 minute.
These bullets can pierce the normal body of any vehicle easily than copper bullets. The weapon’s effective firing range is 500-600 metres, with a maximum firing range of 3,600 metres.
The officials said that the anti-terror operations, and recovery of M4 carbines from terrorists have not been stopping, as presently they are mostly using either AK-47 rifles or M4 carbines.
The first attack last month on army vehicles was fired from M4 only, they said.
According to sources in the security establishment in Jammu & Kashmir confirmed that M4 carbine was first used in 2017 when security forces killed Talha Rashid Masood, nephew of Jaish chief Masood Azhar, in Pulwama. But in recent times, the weapon was used in the terrorist attacks in Kathua, Reasi and Doda, they said.
According to intelligence reports, sources said, two big meetings were held in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) in the past few months. “One meeting was called by the commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) at Pak Army Camp Tejin in PoK and the other by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) leader Abdul Rauf. It was then decided to export the weapons as much as possible to Kashmir,” an intelligence source said, adding that more than two dozen American-made M4 carbines were sent to Kashmir.
The assault rifle, manufactured by an American company, was developed in the 1980s and continues to be used extensively by NATO forces. It is believed in security circles that M4 assault rifles, which are used by the Pakistani army, are being sent to the terrorists.
The M4 Carbine Assault Rifle is a lightweight, gas-operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed weapon. With over 5 lakh units produced since 1987 and the weapon is available in many variants, the sources said.
According to intelligence sources, the Pakistan Army and ISI have activated 15 new terrorist camps and more than 24 launching pads in PoK in the last one month.
Even though there is ceasefire on the border, Pakistan’s agencies are continuously engaged in pushing terrorists from across the LoC, who are kept in bunkers so that the Indian Army does not notice them and these terrorists can hide and stay there for many days before being infiltrated, the sources said.