The home ministry has asked central forces and state police forces in northeast to stay alert to the possibility of Pulwama type car bomb attacks in future.

A similar alert has been sounded to Bangladesh where a ISI backed jihadi plan to hit PM Sheikh Hasina’s family on Dec 30 polling day was busted by covert action off the country’s coast .

Indian intelligence has reports that some young men from Assam and Bangladesh have been trained as suicide bombers after they joined JMB in the last few months.

While the Bengali origin Muslims joining the JMB hail from districts where NRC updating has left tens of thousands excluded, the recruits from Bangladesh hail from families supporting Jamaat e Islami who have faced much harassment from security agencies and Awami League supporters in the last few years.

ISI chief Lt Gen Navid Mukhtar has personally overseen the agency’s efforts to mount spectacular suicide attacks in Kashmir and Northeast and also hit high value targets like the PM’s family in Bangladesh.

The ISI anticipates such attacks will provoke a communal backlash across India ahead of the parliament elections and tie down paramilitary forces all over the country, so that jihadis can further step up the offensive in Kashmir

The jihadis from Assam and Bangladesh trained for suicide operations have also been taken to jihadi theatres like Kashmir for on-field exposure .

The success of Pulwama car bomb attack in Kashmir may now embolden similar lone wolf operations alongside planted serial bomb attack like the 2008 explosions engineered by NDFB .

Intelligence Bureau picked up constant extremist chatter last month suggesting a spectacular attack to avenge the death of top Jaish commanders in the Srinagar valley including two nephews of its chief Masood Azhar.

The alert it sounded led to cautious convoy movements for a week after the Republic Day after it was taken to be routine by the central paramilitary forces and the guard dropped.

That is when the Jaish car bomber struck the CRPF convoy at Pulwama.

In Northeast and Bangladesh which the ISI now treats as one operational zone, Indian intelligence says it cannot rule out a similar attack, specially after Hasina refused to accept the credentials of Pakistan’s nominated ambassador Mrs Syedah Saqlain.