Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 25: In a sensational incident, suspected militants set off a powerful explosion in the office of Naib Tehsildar in wee hours of this morning causing extensive damage to the office and rattling adjacent buildings of Agriculture Department and Primary Health Centre (PHC) at village Dhar Galoon, about five kilometers from the Line of Control (LoC) in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district.
The local Army units were only few yards away from the site of explosion, which took place at 1.15 am when the office was deserted and local people were fast asleep.
DIG Rajouri-Poonch range AK Atri said police was not ruling out the blast as terror attack or sabotage and was working on both the angles.
“Our teams are on the job. We have collected splinter, pieces of clothes laced with explosive material and other circumstantial evidence. However, no arrests have been made so far. Investigators could take a couple of days to come out with facts,” Atri said.
Official sources told the Excelsior that powerful explosion took place inside office of the Naib Tehsildar at 1.15 am early today rattling the entire office complex. While room of the Naib Tehsildar, where the blast took place, was completely damaged, two adjacent rooms suffered extensive damage.
Such was impact of the blast that a chair in the office of the Naib Tehsildar flung several feet high in the air and stuck with a tree as roof of the room was blown up. The Primary Health Centre (PHC) building and Agriculture office, which were close to the office of the Naib Tehsildar, were also rattled under impact of the blast and suffered cracks and damage.
Army and police personnel from their nearby installations rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area in the night itself. Senior Army and police officers including 120 Brigade BG Commander, DIG Rajouri-Poonch AK Atri, SSP Poonch Shamsheer Hussain, Additional SP Poonch Amit Gupta and officers of civil administration reached the spot early today along with sniffer dogs, Bomb Disposal Squads and Forensic experts.
The office of the Naib Tehsildar had been extensively damage. Its roof had been blown up and furniture like chairs flung atop with impact of the explosion.
Though police and Intelligence agencies were yet to comment officially on nature of the explosive device and the purpose to cause blast in the mid-night, reliable sources said about eight to 10 kilograms ammonium nitrate appeared to have been used in the explosive device.
“The IED appeared to have been manufactured locally,” sources said but didn’t rule out anything like militants using the new kind of bomb smuggled from across the LoC Few days back, an Army jawan was killed and three others were injured when militants had detonated an IED with a remote control device on the LoC in Mendhar sector. The IED had been detonated with a remote control from across the LoC.
Sources said Bomb and Forensic experts were examining the possibility whether the blast was triggered with a remote control device or through a timer and what was the purpose of the saboteurs to explode the bomb in the mid-night.
“There was a possibility of time device but the militants or the saboteurs got it wrong as they would have fixed it at 1.15 am instead of 1.15 pm, ” sources said, adding the explosion might have been caused due to a remote control device. “All possibilities are under examination and the investigators, who were puzzled with the mid-night blast, could take time to bring out the facts,” sources said.
As the area was about five kilometers from the LoC, sources have ruled out the possibility of militants covering such a long distance to plant the explosive device in the Government office. However, since there was no major presence of militants in Mendhar and Balakote, security agencies have been taken by surprise with the powerful midnight blast in the Government office.
Sources said the possibility was that it could be a terror strike but timing for the militants went wrong. However, they added, they were not ruling out the sabotage as well as ammonium nitrate and not RDX had been used in causing the explosion.
Police said Mendhar Naib Tehsildar Aftaab Hussain Shah had been holding additional charge of the post of Naib Tehsildar, Dhar Galoon. However, only yesterday, authorities had ordered posting of Qazi Munir Hussain as Naib Tehsildar, Dhar Galoon. Munir had to take the charge today.
Yesterday, Patwari Amzad Nasir and Class-IV employee Talib Hussain had attended the office and left after working hours by locking the office. Police have quizzed both the officials. It appeared that the explosive device had been planted in the office somewhere late in the evening or in the night after scaling walls of the office.
Police said they have also summoned former militants and Over Ground Workers (OGWs) to get clues about the blast. There was, however, no top listed militant operating in Mendhar tehsil at present, they added.
Further investigations in the case were in progress. Senior police officers continued to camp at the blast site for investigations. Patrolling has been intensified in the area to trace the suspects responsible for planting the explosive device.
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