Not AK-47, pistol is now terrorists' weapon of choice for targeted killings in Kashmir
India Today
Pistols, dropped along the international border by drones from Pakistan, have become a headache for security personnel in Jammu & Kashmir as these weapons are easy to hide and dispose of and require little training to operate.
In a change of tact, terrorist organisations are now resorting to the use of pistols for targeted killings in the Kashmir Valley. Dropped near the international border via drones, these pistols are the newest challenge for security forces in the Kashmir Valley ahead of the busy tourist season and amid the Amarnath Yatra.
Based on inputs, the Srinagar Police on Monday arrested two hybrid terrorists from The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) in the Chanapora area of Srinagar. Top police sources said that the arrested duo had received the weapons consignment and were slated to pass on the weapons to people in Srinagar who were planning to carry out a slew of targeted killings. As many as 15 pistols were seized from them.
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The recovered weapons are the US-made Stoeger STR-9S combat pistol. These were dropped along the border via drones from across the border,” said a senior police officer. The US-made weapons were new and unused.
“There is no doubt they are being delivered for targeted killings,” the officer said. “In January this year, two consignments with silencers were seized.
On Monday night, a cordon-and-search operation was launched around a house outside which a Haryana-registered car was parked.
The Srinagar Police found the weapons in a gunny bag kept in the car. The police believe that the weapons had been dropped via drones in Jammu and Punjab, from where the consignment was delivered to the Kashmir Valley.
