By Amresh Srivastava

New Delhi, Oct 20 (IANS): The security agencies probing the recent civilian killings in Kashmir have also been looking at the possible involvement of Pakistan's nefarious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the sources in the intelligence grid said here on Wednesday.

According to the sources, the killings of the civilians in Kashmir indicated a definite pattern where innocent people were killed to spread panic among the locals.

They also indicated that recently decoded encrypted messages of the new terror outfits like HARKAT 313, United Liberation of J&K, The Resistance Front (TRF) suggest the possible hand of Pakistan's ISI behind these killings. These new terror outfits are considered as the fronts of terror organizations like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen, they added.

Another source close to the security establishment said that these Pakistan-based terrorist groups are using the hybrid terrorists who have not been involved in terror activities in the past to avoid detection. They are from among the common masses.

The sources in the agencies said that the intercepted messages originating from Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) also suggest that the attack on individuals in a lone wolf manner could have been executed at the behest of the ISI.

Though the security agencies had inputs that the terrorists would be targeting people from political parties, Kashmiri Pandits, Sikhs and pro-government voices but they did not have a hint of innocent civilians being killed.

Earlier, the security experts had apprehended that the ISI would use the Afghan mercenaries against India after the Taliban took over in Afghanistan.

Apart from technical surveillance and intercepting chats, the Union Home Ministry has roped in officials from intelligence agency, National Investigation Agency (NIA) and officials from the central security forces who have earlier worked in the valley to nab these hybrid ultras. These officials have also been trying to pinpoint the terrorists by scanning the old cases and history of those involved in stone pelting.

The intelligence inputs and preliminary enquiries into these killings have revealed that these incidents were carried out in lone wolf attacks. Therefore, the team will scan the details of those youths who were pardoned in the stone pelting incidents in the past.