Army examines Hizb’s hi-tech communication gadget

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 28

The communication device recovered by the police from north Kashmir’s Sopore town last week was being used by the Hizbul Mujahideen to increase the efficiency of its local communication network.

Sources said the “repeater” device that was installed on a mobile tower in the Badambagh locality of Sopore town was used to boost the signal for the wireless communication of the militant group, which of late has been largely avoiding communicating through mobile phones.

The J&K Police on Friday had claimed to have recovered communication equipment installed by militants on a mobile tower in the Badambagh locality of Sopore town.

The device, which is being analysed by the Army engineers, had triggered a series of violent attacks against telecom offices in the area.

Many private mobile companies have temporarily suspended their operations in north Kashmir.

The device, similar to a radio set, was modified by militants to work as a signal booster for a two-way communication by of the group without getting intercepted, the sources said.

“Militants were using the battery back-up of the mobile tower for uninterrupted working of the communication device. They had wired the device to the power back-up of the mobile tower which led to the exposure,” said a police officer in Srinagar.

“Unlike other militant groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed which mostly rely on Voice Over Internet Protocol for communication, the Hizbul Mujahideen has been using wireless communication to avoid detection,” the officer said.

“The device is being analysed by the Army engineers,” he added.

After the communication device went missing, sources said, militants on May 1 raided the franchise office of three private mobile operators and threatened the staff and asked them to return it. A series of attacks followed in north Kashmir that has so far left two dead and three others injured.

A police officer in north Kashmir claimed: “Militants are now targeting the mobile tower owners, suspecting that they handed over the communication devise to the police.”

An unknown militant group Lashkar-e-Islam had issued warning to mobile companies to shut down their operations.

The United Jihad Council, an umbrella group of nearly a dozen militant outfits, however, had accused security agencies of carrying the attacks. Kashmir separatists have also condemned the attacks. The police have detained many suspects for questioning.

“We have identified the gunmen involved in recent attacks in and around Sopore,” said the police officer.

“ We have even arrested a person who had lobbed a grenade towards the mobile tower,” he said.