Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists killed in Nagrota encounter were in touch with handlers in Pakistan: Reports

On Thursday, four terrorists were killed in an encounter near Nagrota in Jammu. The incident took place near a toll plaza after officials intercepted them on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway. A police constable sustained injuries during the ensuing gunfight with the terrorists.

Since then, there have been several developments. Prime Minister Modi took to Twitter lauding the security forces after being briefed about the entire incident by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah, Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla and the two intelligence chiefs.

"Neutralising of 4 terrorists belonging to Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed and the presence of large cache of weapons and explosives with them indicates that their efforts to wreak major havoc and destruction have once again been thwarted," he tweeted.

""Our security forces have once again displayed utmost bravery and professionalism. Thanks to their alertness, they have defeated a nefarious plot to target grassroots level democratic exercises in Jammu and Kashmir," read a second post.

Since then, additional details have come to light. According to reports, the terrorists in question had been in touch with people from the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed and seemingly receiving their orders the top commanders of the terror outfit, Mufti Rauf Asghar and Qari Zarar. Asghar incidentally is the younger brother of UN designated global terrorist Masood Azhar who leads the terror group.

Mobile devices had been recovered from the killed terrorists. Details shared on social media by journalist Aditya Raj Kaul further indicate that they had been receiving updates and messages from their handler in Pakistan. The visuals shared by the scribe show that the handler had been seeking updates from the group about how far they had travelled, and whether they had faced any difficulties.