A powerful mine blast near the Line of Control in the Krishnaghati sector of Poonch injured three army personnel, including an officer, on Friday afternoon.

A series of incidents in Jammu over the past eight days has triggered alarm in the security establishment.

“During a routine patrol along the Line of Control in the Krishnaghati sector, there was a mine blast,” a defence spokesman said.

The spokesman said the blast left three army personnel injured.

Police sources said the injured included an officer and all three had been shifted to the army’s command hospital in Udhampur.

The police suspect militants had crossed over to the Indian side of the LoC to plant an IED that caused the blast. An official said all angles were being investigated.

On Thursday, security forces had averted a major tragedy when they detected and defused an IED along

the national highway at Sidhra in Jammu city’s outskirts.

Cops said the bomb squad of Jammu police had destroyed the device through a controlled mechanism.

On Sunday, a powerful explosion had rocked a village in Jammu, hours ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally around 12km away, sending the security establishment into a tizzy.

The police suspect that the explosion had been caused by a meteorite or lightning but police sources said they were not ruling out the militancy angle.

A militant attack last Friday killed a Central Industrial Security Force officer and injured nine jawans in Jammu. Two Jaish militants believed to be on a suicide mission were later killed in an hours-long gunfight.

Director-general of police Dilbag Singh had said the militants were apparently launched from Pakistan to sabotage the Prime Minister’s rally.