The Pulwama terror attack was different from earlier 'fidayeen' strikes as it involved a vehicle-borne bomb with a "phenomenal" amount of explosives, a senior Army officer said here Tuesday.
Lieutenant General S K Saini, General Officer Commander-in-Chief, Southern Command, also said that the strategy to deal with suicide attacks is continuously revised.
A suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into a CRPF convoy on February 14 in Pulwama district in south Kashmir, killing 40 jawans.
Speaking to reporters at Southern Command Investiture Ceremony here, Lt Gen Saini said there had been fidayeen (suicide) attacks involving local youth earlier.
"But there was not a vehicle-borne IED (improvised explosive device) except in an incident in which a vehicle IED was used in 2005 in the Valley... However, that did not cause much damage," he said.
In the last week's attack, the amount of explosives in the vehicle was "phenomenal" which caused so much damage, Saini added.
Asked about the army's strategy to counter such attacks, Saini said security mechanisms were based on the assumption that anybody (an attacker) who tries to enter will also want to get away.
"But in the case of a suicide attack, that assumption is undercut. The person who is launching such suicide attack does not want to go back, therefore they are able to defeat the security mechanism, the drills and other procedure which are put in place," he said.
"Nonetheless, the strategy to combat the menace of suicide attacks is continuously revised based on the trends that emerge. It is a continuous process," he added.
Any conflict has two major influences -- "external and and internal drivers" -- Saini said.
"As far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, the external drivers overwhelmed the internal influences and therefore that is the problem in the valley," he said.
The morale of the security forces is intact after the Pulwama incident, he said to another question.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
