Three days after security agencies had warned of possible terror attacks ahead of the polls in Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu and Kashmir, “three ready-to-use” improvised explosive devices (IED) weighing between five to 20 kgs were recovered from a terrorist hideout in the border district of Poonch.
Security forces described it as a “breakthrough" before the Lok Sabha elections in the UT.
The IEDs, placed inside steel containers with capacities of 5kg, 10kg and 20kg were found buried in a cave hideaway during a combined search operation by police, CRPF, and Rashtriya Rifles in the forest region of Sanai-Gursai in the Mendhar sub-division, authorities said.
A bomb disposal squad eventually detonated all three IEDs in a controlled explosion.
"At 4 am, we received information about a potential hideout and suspicious activity in the upper Sanai and launched a joint search operation with the Jammu and Kashmir Police Special Operations Group (SOG) and Rashtriya Rifles." Said an Army official during a press briefing.
Three IEDs, one weighing 15 to 20 kgs, second eight to 10 kgs and third three to five kgs, having two mechanisms for initiating charge were recovered and destroyed," said Rajnesh Yadav, a CRPF spokesperson.
Yadav, who is second-in-command of the 246th battalion, said that the recovery of the IEDs prevented the terrorists' attempt to launch an attack.
"This is election season, and terrorists are always looking for ways to disrupt elections by carrying out sensational acts," he told reporters.
The officials stated that no one was apprehended during the operation, which ended with the safe disposal of the confiscated IEDs.
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