The Hindu : Front Page : Warning ignored by CRPF authorities

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Wednesday, Jan 02, 2008
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Warning ignored by CRPF authorities

Praveen Swami

Srinagar: Intelligence Bureau agents warned last week that a strike on the CRPF’s recruitment camp in Rampur in Uttar Pradesh was imminent, highly placed official sources told The Hindu.

The warning, based on information obtained through a communications intelligence operation, led experts from the Lucknow station of the Intelligence Bureau and the Uttar Pradesh police to conduct a review of the Rampur camp security at the weekend.

However, the sources said, the CRPF failed to implement their recommendations.

A second warning was available on Monday morning, when the Army’s Srinagar-based 15 Corps intercepted a Lashkar-e-Taiba communication authorising an attack on Rampur. However, 15 Corps analysts believed the intercept referred to an Army outpost at Rampur near the LoC in Uri and security was stepped up there.

A military intelligence official here said intercepts were routinely shared with other security forces operating in Jammu and Kashmir, including the CRPF and the police.

“We had no idea there was already intelligence available on a threat to a CRPF station in U.P., or we would most certainly have pressed alarm bells,” he said.

Officials said both warnings related to a Lashkar unit linked to its Kashmir division commander, who is so far known only by the code-name Abdullah Ghaznavi. “While a U.P.-based terror cell probably provided infrastructure for the attack, the personnel who carried it out are most likely from Northern Kashmir,” a police official said.

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