Pulwama perpetrated by extremists, 'aided by State' to destabilise India: Navy chief

New Delhi: The Pulwama attack was perpetrated by extremists and “aided by a State” that seeks to destabilise India, Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba said on Tuesday.

Addressing a gathering of global experts from defence sector and diplomats at the Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue, Lanba said the region had witnessed multiple forms of terrorism in recent years and few countries in this part of the world had been spared.

The global nature that terrorism has acquired in the recent times has further enhanced the scope of this threat, he said. India, however, faces a “far more serious” version of terrorism, the Navy chief said.

“We recently had the extremist attack in Jammu and Kashmir about three weeks ago. This violence was perpetrated by extremists aided and abetted by a State that seeks to destabilise India,” the Navy chief said.

“We also have reports of terrorists being trained to carry out operations in various modus operandi, including through the medium of the sea,” he added.

On February 14, a suicide bomber of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a bus in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district, killing 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel.