New Delhi: On Friday in two different encounters, the security forces gunned down 7 terrorists. While this was a major boost for the forces, what was interesting was that the terrorists were not part of just one group.

Out of the five terrorists killed in the Shopian encounter, two were from the Hizbul Mujahideen., two from the Ansar Gazwat ul Hind and one from the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. This goes on to show that all the terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir are carrying out operations jointly. A senior official said that this trend has emerged off late for a variety of reasons. These are different terror groups who report to one master and that is the ISI in Pakistan.

All these terrorists are locals and they stay together. Each one has subscribed to the cause of one outfit, but they work together. They have in fact been told to work together by the ISI. All these terrorists who have taken up arms are from South Kashmir and they are all followers of Burhan Wani, the officer cited above also said.

Another official says that such a scenario also makes it clear that there is a sense of desperation setting in. The government has dealt with terrorists with an iron fist. The borders have become extremely tight as a result of which infiltrations have come down as a result of which terror groups are extremely low in terms of manpower. Hence, they have been left with no option but to fight together, the official also said.

Over the past couple of months, terror groups have made desperate attempts to drop off arms into India. In January the security forces arrested three terrorists from South Kashmir who had travelled to collect ammunition that dropped off in drones in the Rajouri sector. During the operation, 2 AK-56 rifles, six AK magazines with 180 bullets, two Chinese pistols, three pistol magazines with 30 rounds, four grenades and Rs 1 lakh in cash were recovered.

The Pakistan based terrorists have been making several attempts to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir, but a majority of them have been foiled. Sources say that these terrorists are now trying to use the abandoned routes to make fresh infiltration bids. However these attempts have been foiled and these routes are under tight scrutiny, the source also said.