J&K: Major vehicle-borne IED blast averted by timely input, action in Pulwama [Video]

A car filled with explosives was caught by a joint team of security forces in Kashmir’s Pulwama district during a late night operation, averting what could have been a major incident of a vechicle-borne IED blast and a repeat of the 2019 suicide bombing of a CRPF bus more than a year ago.

The explosives were detonated by the Jammu and Kashmir police in an outlying area because it was reckoned too dangerous to defuse the explosive. In a video shared by J&K Poilce, the car can be seen turning into a massive fire ball just ahead of engulfing the area with cloud of smoke.

“This is such great work. Imagine if this had led to loss of lives. Just grateful this is not mixed in with human ash,” said Kashmir police officer Rayees Mohammad Bhat, who also shared the video of what he described as the “ashfall” from the explosion.

Police officer who investigated the 60 kg car bomb before it was detonated have a suspicion that Waleed Bhai, a notorious bomb maker of the Jaish-e-Mohammed had made the car bomb.

According to a senior police officer, the car bomb also exemplifies that the line between terror outfits was only national for the reason that they were working closely and were increasingly moved from one group to the other.

“This is purely a Jaish and Lashkar joint operation. But the (terror) factory is located in Pakistan, whether Hizbul, Jaish or the TRF (The Resistance Front,” Jammu and Kashmir Police chief Dilbag Singh told Hindustan Times.

The preliminary input from the intelligence that led to the operation in Pulwama was that a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist was driving a car. The input did not tell which route he would take. “So joint teams of the J&K police, CRPF and Army mapped all the possible routes and set up checkpoints,” a Jammu and Kashmir police officer said.

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When the suspected car was spotted at Ayekhand, the security forces who had stationed themselves away from the road started shooting at the vechicle. The terrorist drove the car for a bit before he stopped and fled into the bushes.

The explosives were in a drum on the rear seat of the Santro which had a fake registration plate. “Possibly more explosives could be fitted elsewhere in the vehicle,” a police officer said.

Security forces stood by till daybreak and evacuated the area. “The vehicle was exploded in situ by the Bomb Disposal Squads as moving the vehicle would have involved serious threat,” the police said.