Militant driving explosive-laden car flees after jumping checkpoints in Pulwama

SRINAGAR — Security forces on Wednesday thwarted last year’s Pulwama-type fidayeen attack by recovering a 45-kilogram explosive laden car left behind by a possible suicide bomber at Ayegund area of Rajpora in southern district of Pulwama.

The car was later destroyed along with the explosives comprising ammonium nitrate and huge quantity of RDX. In the process of destroying the car, a residential house nearby suffered damages.

While addressing a press conference here, Inspector General of Police Kashmir Range, Vijay Kumar said that at least 40 to 45 kgs of explosive material was fitted in private vehicle jointly by the Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Muhammad militants in a bid to target security forces in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district and the timely action of forces averted major tragedy.

The IGP said that security agencies—Police, Army and the CRPF were getting inputs about the possible fidayeen attack by the militants.

“Yesterday, lead matured and special nakas were laid at various points. Our men stopped the suicide attacker at two naka points and fired warning shots at both sites. The attacker jumped both naka points and left behind the vehicle late night yesterday at Ayegund area of Rajpora, Pulwama,” the IGP said.

He said that with the first light of the day, security forces found that the vehicle was suspicious and that the Bomb Disposal Squad was instantly called. “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,” he said,adding, “We concluded that 40 to 45 kgs of explosive material was used by militants after seeing that the vehicle went up 15 meters above the ground when the IED was being destroyed.”

The IGP said a militant identified as Adil, who works for Hizb and Jaish and two other militants of these outfits are behind the act. “They were planning the suicide attack on 17th of Ramadhan (Jang-e-Badr), but couldn’t do it due to our intensified operations against militants,” he said.

He said that the timely action of police, Army and the CRPF in detecting and defusing the IED is laudable. “I compliment all the security agencies for this successful operation,” the IGP said.

Meanwhile, security officials said that the case will be handed over to National Investigation Agency (NIA) for a thorough probe to nail the entire plot like the agency did in last year’s Lethpora, Pulwama attack that left 40 CRPF men dead.