Jammu: A major tragedy was averted with the timely detection of three ready-to-use improvised explosive devices (IED), each weighing between three to 20 kgs, from a terrorist hideout in the border district of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, officials said.
The officials hailed it as a "major breakthrough", especially considering the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
IEDs were planted inside steel containers
The IEDs, concealed within steel containers of varying capacities ranging from 5 kg to 20 kg, were discovered concealed inside a cave hideout during a joint search operation conducted by the police, CRPF and Rashtriya Rifles in the forest area of Sanai-Gursai in the Mendhar sub-division, the officials said.
After their discovery, the bomb disposal squad promptly neutralised all three IEDs through a controlled explosion. This action effectively foiled the terrorists' intentions to execute explosions in the Union Territory.
CRPF officer Rajnesh Yadav said, “We received an input about the likely hideout and suspicious movement in the upper Sanai at 4 am and subsequently launched a joint 'search and destroy' operation with the Special Operations Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir Police and Rashtriya Rifles. Three IEDs, one weighing 15 to 20 kgs, second eight to 10 kgs and third three to five kgs, having two mechanisms for initiating charge were recovered and destroyed.”
No arrests so far
Yadav, who holds the position of second-in-command within the 246th battalion, emphasised that the confiscation of the IEDs successfully thwarted the terrorists' plot to execute an attack. “This is an election time and terrorists are always on the lookout to disrupt elections by carrying out any sensational act,” he told reporters at the scene.
The operation concluded with the safe disposal of the seized IEDs, and no arrests were made during the operation, officials confirmed.
(With PTI inputs)
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