Pahalgam terror attack: How did American M4 rifles end up with the gunmen?

On April 22, a group of tourists were enjoying their time in the Baisaran meadow in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam. But this day of fun and frolic turned into tragedy and trauma when terrorists dressed in army fatigues, emerged from the dense forest, surrounded the valley and started killing the tourists one by one.

At the end of the attack — which lasted for more than 15 minutes — 26 people had been killed and a nation was shocked at the audacity of the attack.

As the country grapples with the loss of innocent lives, preliminary investigations have revealed that the gunmen in the attack carried body cameras on them and were armed with AK-47s and US-made M4 carbines.

The use of the American-made arms is a pattern, according to security experts. They note that in recent previous attacks too in the Valley, Pakistan-based terrorists have used the M4 carbines.

The question that then begs answering is — how do Pakistani terrorists get their hands on American-made arms?

M4 carbine assault rifles used in Pahalgam

Security officials, who spoke to the survivors and eyewitnesses of the attack, have said that the gunmen, two of whom are Pakistani, came in camouflage attire.

“After reaching the meadow, the terrorists first held the tourists hostage at gunpoint and then asked all women and children to stay away. They fired from close range after inquiring about identities. They later resorted to indiscriminate firing,” said one source to Indian Express.

Moreover, cartridges recovered from the spot at Baisaran maidan reveal that they were carrying AK-47 rifles and the American-made M4 carbines. In fact, officials recovered some 50-70 used cartridges from the attack, which was indicative of the extent of the attack.

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America’s M4 carbine assault rifles, explained

But what exactly are the M4 carbine assault rifles and how deadly are they?

The M4 is the workhorse of the US military — it is the standard issue firearm for most units in the US military. It is a lightweight, gas operated and shoulder-fired weapon, which has been in development since the 1980s.

The M4 has been adopted by several countries across the globe and has been described as “one of the defining firearms of the 21st century”.

Today, there are multiple variants of the M4 available. It has the ability to shoot 700 to 900 rounds per minute and has an effective firing range of 500-600 metres whereas its maximum range stretches to 3,600 metres.

M4 carbines — from US to Afghanistan and Pakistan

But the question still remains: how do Pakistani terrorists get their hands on American-made firearms? The short answer is through the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Confused? We elaborate.

When the Taliban took over control of Afghanistan in 2021 following the withdrawal of US troops, it also came into possession of around one million weapons and pieces of military equipment — which had mostly been funded by the US.

Moreover, many Afghan soldiers surrendered or fled, abandoning their weapons and vehicles. Some equipment was simply left behind by US forces. The cache included American-made firearms, such as M4 and M16 rifles, as well as other older weapons in Afghan possession that had been left behind from decades of conflict.

According to a report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, in 2023, more than $7 billion in US-provided military equipment was still in the country. This comprised more than a quarter-million rifles, enough to arm the entire US Marine Corps, as well as nearly 18,000 night-vision goggles.

However, it didn’t stop there. As per a United Nations report of 2023, the Taliban allowed local commanders to retain 20 per cent of seized US weapons while the rest were sold in arms bazaars. In many cases, al-Qaeda affiliates, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, and Yemen’s Ansarullah movement purchased these weapons from the black market.

Many vendors in these arms markets note that the market was flooded with American weapons in the days after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In some cases, the Taliban local commanders even gifted these firearms to other fighters.

India’s intelligence agencies note that many Lashkar terrorists with the backing of the ISI, Pakistan’s spy agency, have purchased these American weapons from the illegal arms markets that thrive in their country.

Use of M4 rifles in past J&K terror attacks

The use of M4 carbine rifles by the Pahalgam terrorists isn’t the first instance of the firearm being used to wreak havoc in Jammu and Kashmir.

The M4 rifle was first seen in Jammu and Kashmir in 2017, when security forces killed Talha Rashid Masood, the nephew of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar, in Pulwama. Since then, M4 rifles have been used in several terror incidents, including attacks in Kathua, Reasi, Poonch, and Rajouri.

In 2018, the M4 rifle was recovered by security forces in Kashmir’s Pulwama for the second time when Azhar’s another nephew Usman Ibrahim was killed.

Later in July, 2022, one M4 carbine rifle was recovered from an encounter site in the Awantipora area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district where Jaish-e-Muhammad commander Kaiser Koka and one another terrorist were neutralised.

In December 2023, terrorist outfit People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF) which claimed responsibility for the Poonch terror attack in which four soldiers were killed, showed the sophisticated US-made M4 carbine assault rifles on social media.

Last year, the M4 carbine was repeatedly used by terrorists. On June 9, the weapon was reportedly used in the Reasi attack when terrorists attacked a tourist bus leaving nine people dead and 41 injured.

Two weeks later, on June 26, an M4 rifle besides a huge cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from the terrorist killed in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district.

The M4 carbine was used in the Kathua attack on July 8 in which five soldiers were ambushed to death.

Experts have flagged the increased use of the M4 rifle, stating that it is worrying for India’s security grid. Lieutenant General Sanjay Kulkarni, a defence expert, told the Times of India that Pakistan’s ISI has been assisting terrorists with sophisticated arms to further their malicious intentions in the region. He said that M4 rifles have steel bullets that have definite penetration and are generally not utilised because they come under various kinds of restrictions.

With inputs from agencies