Security agencies are actively pursuing Mohammad Lateef Bhat, a suspected operative of the Kashmir Revolutionary Army (KRA), in connection with an attack in Kulgam in which three Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were injured. Intelligence officials believe the KRA is a proxy organisation of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT), designed to insulate the parent terror outfit from international scrutiny and Indian crackdowns.

What Is the Kashmir Revolutionary Army

Analysts describe the KRA as an offshoot of the The Resistance Front (TRF), itself a front organisation of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. The TRF was originally created following the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019 to give the LeT an indigenous appearance inside the Kashmir Valley. India was the first to ban the TRF. Following the Pahalgam attack, the United States designated the TRF as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation in July 2025.

According to officials, once the TRF came under intense heat from both India and Washington, the Lashkar moved to create a secondary layer — the KRA — specifically to bypass international sanctions and evade Indian agency crackdowns on the TRF. Notably, the TRF, which had initially claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack, was quick to retract that claim under pressure from India and the international community.

How KRA and TRF Are Linked

An Intelligence Bureau official told reporters that the KRA and TRF are, operationally, one and the same. 'They share the same handlers, ground operatives and their recruitment pipelines are identical,' the official said. 'The objective is to evade international sanctions and avoid attracting the attention of Indian security agencies. However, the emergence of such groups also suggests that these outfits are becoming fragmented and lack unity,' the official added.

By projecting a layered structure, these proxies ultimately shield their parent organisation. When investigators launch a probe, they must first work through the KRA layer, then the TRF, before reaching the Lashkar leadership — a deliberate buffer that buys the parent group time to cover its tracks and plan fresh strikes.

Bhat's Modus Operandi and Track Record

Officials say Mohammad Lateef Bhat carries out swift, small-team strikes — typically with no more than two or three associates — before blending back into the local civilian population. He is reportedly armed with an AK-47 rifle and has been linked to multiple attacks in recent months.

In July 2026, he is believed to have been involved in the fatal shooting of Jammu and Kashmir head constable Aashiq Hussain in Anantnag. He is also suspected in the 31 July targeted killing of two migrant workers from Chhattisgarh — Bhupendra and Deepak — in Kulgam. The latest Kulgam attack on CRPF personnel follows a nearly identical pattern. Notably, Bhat reportedly avoids retreating to secluded hideouts, calculating that blending into the civilian population reduces his chances of being tracked.

A Deliberate Strategy to Confuse Investigators

Officials say all recent attacks bear the distinct signature of the TRF, yet the outfit has conspicuously refrained from claiming responsibility — a calculated move to avoid further international scrutiny. Instead, lesser-known names such as the KRA are surfaced in connection with the strikes, investigators suspect, to create confusion and complicate attribution.

'The idea is to create more layers so that the parent outfit is completely shielded,' an official said, adding that going forward, one could expect more such proxies linked to both the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. Security officials warn this layering tactic represents an evolving counter-intelligence challenge that could grow more complex if left unaddressed.