With adaptive enemy: Peshawar police in search of GSM jammers

Terrorists have started triggering IEDs through cell phones instead of radios for which police vans carry jammers

PESHAWAR: With terrorism evolving owing to its guerrilla nature, terrorists planting remotely-triggered roadside bombs seem to have adapted to the jammers installed in police vans.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) police department had equipped police patrol vans - especially those which patrol the rural areas – with radio frequency jammers. The equipment was installed after terrorists started triggering roadside and other planted bombs through radios. The method was one of the most popular means to target police patrols in recent years.

But after the police employed jammers, it helped reduce attacks through roadside bombs, especially in Peshawar.

However, this has pushed terrorists to adapt how they trigger these bombs. Instead of radios, they have now started using GSM signals through cell phones to set these improvised explosive devices (IED) off.

“Unfortunately these terrorists are smart and they know that we are using radio frequency jammers in our vehicles. So now they use cell phones as triggers for which GSM jammers are required,” a police official told The Express Tribune.

He added that the GSM jammers were only available with the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) or other security agencies.

The change in the terrorist’s modus operandi became apparent when an IED exploded near the Urmar school recently. A CTD van was heading to the site when it came under attack from a roadside IED. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the attack.

“Last week, terrorists attacked a house with an IED in Ghaniur Rehman Qila area within the remits of Duadzai police station,” claimed police officials, adding that militants had restarted attacks in the area.

“Two IEDs were planted along the road leading to the school. When a relative rushed to the site of the explosion in a jeep, the terrorists mistook him as a police officer and targeted him in another explosion,” the official said, adding, “But he was very lucky to escape.”

“When a police squad was dispatched to the area, their vehicle was also attacked, but they survived due to the jammers in their vehicle.”

The official added that terrorists aligned with the Islamic State (Da’esh) in the area have been attacking their opponents from other militant groups.

“Da’esh members are targeting supporters and members of the Afghan Taliban. This is evident from the killing of Mullah Daud, the head of the Peshawar Shura and other clerics in Peshawar,” the official said, adding that the group had emerged as a new threat which was battling the Taliban for dominance in Afghanistan and their fight had spread to the outskirts of Peshawar as well.

While it remains to be seen whether the K-P government allocates any money for GSM jammers in the upcoming budget, some police officers have brought the devices on their own.

But the use of these devices is tricky since police officials riding in vans equipped with the device cannot use their cell phones either. And in these modern times, cell phones are often as important a communication source as radios.

“GSM jammers are available in Karachi and Lahore for as little as Rs10,000 which are portable and you can carry them around in your vehicle,” a police officer said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2017.