Tragedy averted in J&K: Police defuse IED along Srinagar-Baramulla highway

The Police cordoned off the area and suspended the traffic on the highway as the bomb squad got down to work.

The alertness of the Jammu and Kashmir Police averted a major tragedy on Monday after an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was detected along the Srinagar-Baramulla highway. The police units promptly defused the device before it could cause any damage, PTI reported.

FILE: Security personnel stand guard during a search operation on Srinagar-Ladakh highway following a terrorist attack, in Ganderbal district, Jammu & Kashmir,(PTI)

Cops were performing a routine check along the highway when they detected a suspicious-looking object in the Palhallan area. After the detection, a bomb disposal unit was called into action which promptly confirmed it to be an IED.

The police cordoned off the area and suspended the traffic on the highway as the bomb squad got down to work.

The device was defused and destroyed within a few hours and the traffic was allowed to go on as usual. As to who planted the device is not yet known, according to the officials.

The site becomes even more important as it is just 30 to 40 kilometres from Gulmarg, which attracts a good number of tourists at this time of the year.

The modus operandi of the militants

It has been a go-to mode for terrorists to plant IEDs along the highways. They have been using remote triggered or pressure IEDs to target convoys of the security forces and the Army on roads, streets, and highways in Jammu and Kashmir. These explosive devices have also been used by the terrorists to target VIP cavalcades in the Valley.

Who the terrorists were targeting is not yet known or revealed but it can be said that a major tragedy was waiting to happen and has been averted by the police.

The latest attempted attack comes just days after authorities attached three houses in Shopian and Baramulla districts under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in separate terror cases last week, PTI reported. 

According to the police, the houses attached in Shopian are registered in the names of Mohd Shafi Dar, the father of terrorist Adnan Shafi Dar, and Abdul Majeed Koka, the father-in-law of terrorist associate Sajad Ahmad Khah.

A single-story residential house attached in Baramulla belonged to Mohammad Subhan Khan.