CRPF personnel caught off guard

In the February 14 Pulwama terror attack incident, an explosive-laden vehicle, moving along the same route, was rammed into a CRPF bus by a suicide bomber. According to CRPF officers, the earlier practice of closing the route for the passage of convoy was done away some time back, and civilian vehicles are allowed to pass along. This, they say, proved to be the weak link.However, it is virtually impossible to defend against such an attack, however strictly the convoy movement SOPs are followed or well-armed and trained the troops are.

There can simply be no inkling as to what the driver of a seemingly normal vehicle moving like regular traffic, may suddenly do. Some reports say that 300 kg of explosive was used in the attack. There are also reports of an intelligence input, though vague and generalised, cautioning against the use of IEDs.

The planning and execution of the attack shows the manpower and material used in the attack has implications, which are required to be addressed at all levels, i.e. intelligence, active combat drills on counter insurgency and area sanitisation, especially along the highways, and zeroing in on local youths who are missing and known to have joined the anti-national outfits.

Major (retd) Madhu Saxena, Secunderabad