FB video shows Hizbul militants cracking jokes, loading assault rifles

In yet another audacious move, the banned Hizbul Mujahideen has uploaded a video of its militants training in army fatigues with assault rifles and cracking jokes on a social networking site, seen as a "psychological warfare" against the security forces.

The brazen display of nonchalance came within a fortnight the law enforcement agencies managing to remove still photos of the militants in battle gear from Facebook, official sources said.

It is rare for the militants to expose their faces apprehending action by the security agencies.

The video shows 11 militants roaming in the orchards of Yaripora, a place located between Shopian and Kulgam in south Kashmir. They are seen loading their assault rifles and cracking jokes, sources said.

Analysts closely watching the situation in the valley, feel the banned terror outfit was trying to engage in a "psychological warfare" by audaciously posting these pictures and videos to "break" the morale of the security agencies, which have launched fresh anti-militancy operations in south Kashmir after a brief lull.

The central security agencies have sought details from the social networking site of the Internet Protocol addresses from where the photos were uplinked and then deleted, official sources said. They, however, conceded the terror groups usually masked the IP addresses to avoid being tracked down.

Like in the pictures, the video shows an ex-constable of Jammu and Kashmir Police Naseer, who ran away with two AK-47 rifles while on guard duty with Altaf Bukhari, a minister in the Mufti Sayeed-headed PDP-BJP government. Burhan Wani, a Tral resident, who has emerged as the young face of Hizbul Mujahideen in the Valley, also features in the video among others.

Images of Burhan and posts extolling him were uploaded on social networking sites like Facebook which the security agencies have got removed but that has not erased his popularity.

Young militant leaders like Burhan, who have been successful in recruiting even educated youth into the outfit, pose a fresh challenge to the security forces given their devil-may-care attitude reflected in the uploading of their photographs and video.

Image used for representational purposes only