Srinagar: The police on Thursday claimed to have averted an incident of a “vehicle-borne IED blast” with the timely detection of the device inside a car in southern Pulwama district’s Rajpora area.
Inspector-General of Police, Kashmir range, Vijay Kumar, briefed the press that at least forty to forty kilograms of explosive material was fitted in private vehicle jointly by the Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammad.
Following the specific intelligence inputs, an improvised explosive device (IED) which was hidden inside a Santro car was recovered at Ayengund area of Rajpora.
The vehicle, as per preliminary investigations suggest that it carried a fake number plate, and its driver, suspected to be a Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militant, left it near Ayengund while initially jumping a checkpoint in the area, the officer said.
“After preliminary investigations, we found that the vehicle was laden with at least 40 to 45 kgs of explosive material which include ammonium nitrate, RDX and other material. Earlier, we thought it must be around 10 to 15 kgs,” said the IGP, Kumar. “The militant or militants left the vehicle and escaped under the cover of darkness even as some gunshots were exchanged in the area.”
He added that the explosives device was destroyed by a Bomb Disposal Squad later.
Reports said window panes of some houses were damaged in areas in the vicinity of the site where the explosive device was destroyed.
Confirming the recovery, Inspector General of Police, Vijay Kumar, said that a “major incident of a vehicle-borne IED blast has been averted by the timely input and action by Pulwama Police, CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force), and the army.” (With inputs from GNS)