The audacity with which "young", newly recruited terrorists belonging to Hizbul Mujahideen have shared on social media their photographs in full combat gear and armed with automatic rifles has alarmed the Indian security establishment, which believes that terror groups in India are following the ISIS model of attracting youngsters. That the photographs seem to have been taken either in Tral or Bijbehara in the Kashmir valley, has added to the concerns of the security forces, as these areas are located near the route taken by pilgrims undertaking the Amarnath Yatra.

Last week, three photographs were uploaded on Facebook that showed 11 terrorists, later identified as belonging to Hizbul Mujahideen, posing with automatic rifles. The photographs were visible for two days and were downloaded and "liked" by many Facebook users before being removed by the uploader.

"This is alarming, as this was the first time that terrorists in the Valley have openly shared their photographs, without any fear of being identified," an official monitoring the situation said. "In the photographs, the terrorists look self assured and confident, which does not augur well for the security forces. It shows their intent. We think that by sharing such photographs, these terrorist groups are trying to attract the local youth into their fold, just like the ISIS has been doing with alarming success internationally. We are working to identify those who uploaded them."

Security agencies monitoring the situation said that 10 of the 11 individuals in the picture have been identified including the most-wanted 21-year-old Burhan Muzaffar Wani, a Hizbul Mujahideen commander in South Kashmir, and Nasir Ahmad Pandit, a former state police constable who deserted the force, stole two rifles and joined the terrorist group in March. Officials said that all the ten, who are in their 20s, are from Tral, Bijbehara, Pulwama and Shopian.

Burhan's brother Khalid was killed by the security forces in April in Tral, in what locals alleged was a fake encounter. The locals claimed that Khalid was not into terrorism. Their father is a principal at a government school in Lorigram, Tral.

According to officials, recently, at least 50 Kashmiri youth have drifted towards various terror groups operating in the Valley. "The rise of ISIS globally and the increase in the number of Kashmiri youth embracing jihad is not a coincidence," an official commented.