Security forces on Thursday averted a major tragedy as they foiled a bid to set up a car-borne IED, containing about 45 kgs of explosives, in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.
Inspector-general of police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said the militants of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) were working together to target the security forces in a similar manner as the February last year suicide attack which left more than 40 CRPF personnel dead.
'The police were receiving inputs since a week that HM and JeM militants were planning to launch a big suicidal strike against security forces using car bomb. When the input matured on Wednesday, we developed it and nakas were placed in Pulwama by the security forces, Kumar told reporters here.
He said in the evening, when the suspected car, about which the police already had inputs, reached a naka, the security forces fired some warning shots and the militant turned the car away and fled.
'At another naka, the forces again fired some warning shots and the militant fled from the spot, taking advantage of darkness, and left the car behind. The forces used lights to check the vehicle from a distance after finding something suspicious. We tightened the cordon and waited for the first light of the day.
'This morning, a bomb disposal squad reached the spot and saw the vehicle was laden with explosives. The IED was diffused in a technical way by the police, Army and paramilitary CRPF. The Pulwama police, with the help of security forces, have averted a major tragedy and I congratulate all of the forces,' he said.
The IGP said the police had inputs that JeM was planning to launch such an attack on the anniversary of Jang-e-Badr day the 17th day of Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan -- but could not undertake it then because the forces had taken pre-emptive measures.
'However, the input got developed on Wednesday and we suspect Adil, who is a HM militant but also works with JeM, and Fauji bhai, a Pakistani militant and JeM commander in Pulwama are involved in the planning of the attack, he said.
Kumar said the militants were planning to target the security forces vehicles using about 40-45 kgs of explosives in the same manner as the February 14, 2019 Awantipora attack.
'We are calling an expert team from the outside to investigate it. Since the explosive debris went up about 50 metres in the air, it seems that the weight of the explosives would have been about 40-45 kgs,' he said.
According to sources, a white coloured private car was flagged by security forces at a mobile vehicle check point but the driver sped away.
They said the security forces fired few shots at the car, which they found abandoned some distance away.
During checking, an IED was found fitted in the vehicle, which was later defused, the sources said.
Further details are awaited.
