Powerful IED defused
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 10: Even as security forces detected and defused powerful 2.4 kg Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Mendhar which had been planted on road by the militants to target security forces convoy heading towards the Line of Control (LoC), police have achieved major success by arresting four more militants of newly floated Jammu and Kashmir Janbaaz Force, who had planned to spread their network to neighbouring Rajouri district and intensify militancy in the twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri.
Police sources told the Excelsior that four more militants of Jammu and Kashmir Janbaaz Force have been arrested by police on the basis of disclosures made by three already arrested militants from Mendhar and Balakote areas of Poonch district, taking total arrests in the area to seven. Click here to watch video
All four newly arrested militants hailed from the areas close to the Line of Control (LoC) and had fallen into the trap of militants on being lured by the militant commanders operating from Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Explosive devices including grenades have been recovered from the possession of the arrested militants, sources said.
Inspector General of Police (IGP), Jammu Zone, Mukesh Singh is visiting Mendhar tomorrow to review the situation arising out of militant activities in the area including recovery of a powerful IED this morning and more arrests of the militants.
“Due to arrest of seven militants (three earlier and four now), police have foiled major plot of the terror strikes in Mendhar, Balakote and other areas of Poonch district,” sources said, adding the militants had planned to target religious places in the border district to foment communal trouble.
Meanwhile, police and Army have averted in what could have been a major tragedy by detecting and defusing a powerful IED planted by the militants near Gohlad Reelan-Mendhar road in Poonch district.
SSP Poonch Ramesh Angral told the Excelsior that the sleuths of District Special Branch (DSB) detected the IED planted on the road at 10.30 pm last night.
Immediately, police personnel and troops of 49 Rashtriya Rifles and 37 Rashtriya Rifles cordoned off the road and restricted every kind of vehicular and individual movement on the road.
They detected a motor cycle lying in vicinity of the same areas which was bearing registration No. 7298 JK02BP.
The bike has been seized, sources said, adding the militant responsible for planting the IED is reported to have slipped into the forest area after the terror act.
In the morning, a Bomb Disposal Squad of the Army defused the IED safely.
Later, the road was sanitized and opened for vehicles. The IED weighed around 2.4 kgs and was carrying powerful explosive material.
Sources said Gohlad Reelan-Mendhar road leads to the Line of Control (LoC) and Army vehicles generally move on the road in the morning. The IED had been planted with a view to target the Army vehicles, sources said, adding that a major tragedy has been averted with timely detection of the explosive device.
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