Explosions have destroyed four more houses belonging to known militants, after two rebels’ homes blew up on Thursday night, amid a wide perception that this is reprisal on the insurgents’ families for the Pahalgam attacks.
As after Thursday night’s blasts, the security forces confirmed the latest explosions but did not officially say who blew the houses up.
Local people and some of the affected families claimed the forces had triggered the explosions after evacuating the occupants and later detained some of the militants’ relatives, including a few women.
The house blasts have coincided with large-scale arrests over the Pahalgam massacre, with Anantnag police on Saturday acknowledging 175 arrests in the district. Tensions are rising on the frontier, too, with the Indian and Pakistani armies exchanging fire for a second consecutive night.
A message shared informally with journalists but unattributed to any specific security agency seemed to acknowledge an official hand behind the house blasts.
“In connection with the recent terror attack, three houses belonging to terrorists in South Kashmir during the night were damaged in the blast, one each in Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam,” the message, issued after three blasts on Friday night, said.
Officials said these three destroyed homes belonged to Ehsan-ul-Haq Sheikh of Muran in Pulwama, Zakir Ahmad of Matalhama in Kulgam and Shahid Ahmad Kuttay of Chotipora in Shopian. A fourth house, that of Lashkar-e-Toiba militant Farooq Teedwa, blew up in Kalaroos, Kupwara, on Saturday evening.
Thursday night witnessed explosions at the homes of two Lashkar militants: Adil Thoker of Anantnag and Asif Sheikh of Tral in Pulwama.
Of the six affected militants, the police have so far officially named only one — Adil — as one of the Pahalgam killers, implying the militant homes were being targeted at random. Unofficial sources have, however, said Asif was among the plotters behind the Pahalgam attack.
On Friday, after the first two houses blew up, police sources had pointed to explosives stored inside these houses without specifying who set them off.
One of Adil’s sisters told a news agency that the forces had picked up her parents and two unmarried sisters after the house explosion. She said the occupants had been evacuated before explosives were “planted” to blow the house up.
Never before have militants’ homes been flattened during operations that did not involve a gun battle.
Media reports from Delhi said the intelligence agencies had compiled a list of 14 local militants operating in Jammu and Kashmir, triggering widespread fear among militants’ families that they might be the next to face the music.
While the house blasts are being largely seen as payback for Pahalgam, police sources said they were also aimed at deterring the local youth from joining the militancy by signalling that their families might be targeted if they did.
Kashmir’s politicians have so far not reacted to these house explosions, apparently for fear of being hounded.
Joint teams from the Anantnag police, army, CRPF, and other agencies have been conducting extensive cordon-and-search operations across the district, targeting suspected rebel hideouts and support networks.
“As part of these operations, numerous raids were conducted at various locations throughout the district. Day and night search operations are underway with heightened vigilance,” a police statement said.
“So far, around 175 suspect(s) have been detained for questioning to dismantle the support networks aiding terrorist activities.”
The militants involved in the Pahalgam attack remain at large.
Army sources said Pakistani troops “initiated” small-arms fire across the Line of Control on Friday night, and this was “effectively responded to”. The previous night too saw an exchange of fire.
On Friday, security forces killed Altaf Lalli, brother of jailed Hizb militant Talib Lalli, in Bandipora. He was described as a “militant associate” but local people who held a protest claimed Altaf had been killed in a staged gunfight.