Jammu: In a disturbing development on militancy front, foreign mercenaries operating in Jammu and Kashmir are reported to be in possession of lethal chemical weapons, raising security concerns in the border state, according to an Army official.

"Terrorists operating in J and K have chemical weapons, as per the recent intelligence reports analysed by Army," Lieutenant Colonel S P K Singh of Northern Command Headquarters said on April 30.

Over the past two to three months, the Army has been consistently receiving information that foreign terrorists in the state have been moving with suspicious looking containers, he said.

"But recent intelligence inputs have suggested that terrorists have been talking about use of poisonous gas," Singh revealed.

These reports are of great significance in light of American concern about chemical weapons and other weapons of mass destruction falling in the hands of terrorist groups here, he said.

PTI