Highlights:
- 2019 Pulwama like attack averted
- A car carrying 20 kg of IED was stopped at a checkpoint
Indian security forces acted on their toes and averted a massive car bomb attack in Pulwama of Jammu & Kashmir on the night of Wednesday as they stopped a vehicle which was carrying 20 Kg of Improvised Explosive Device (IED).
The plan looks similar to the chilling incident took place last year in Pulwama where in a terror attack 40 soldiers were killed after a suicide bomber drove a car full of explosives into a CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) convoy.
Following the inputs received from the intelligence, a white Hyundai Santro which was carrying a fake registration number plate was signalled to stop at a checkpoint on Wednesday night, however, the driver tried to accelerate and smash through the barricade, said the police.
Vijay Kumar, Inspector General (IG) of Police said, “The security forces opened fire. The driver managed to escape, leaving behind the car laden with IED,” and added, “We got intelligence about a possible attack. We were looking for a vehicle with IED since yesterday,”.
The car, along with the IED, was destroyed by the bomb disposal squad.
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Dilbag Singh, Director General of Police (DGP), said, “It (the car) was kept under watch for the night. People in nearby houses were evacuated and the vehicle was destroyed on-site by the bomb disposal squad as moving it would have been a serious threat,”.
Kumar said that it was a joint operation carried out by the Army, the Paramilitary Forces and the Police.
After a terror attack in the Pulwama district, the same district where the car was stopped yesterday, on the 14th February last year, India destroyed camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed, a terror organisation, deep inside the Pakistani territory. This was followed by an air battle between the India and Pakistani air force.
In the past 2 months, India has witnessed a huge spike in terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir, as many as 30 security forces personnel which includes officers have lost their lives.
During the same period, 38 terrorists were also shot dead by Indian security forces. This included Riyaz Naikoo, one of the most wanted terrorists and the commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, a terror group, who was killed in Pulwama in May.
The growth in the terror attacks amidst several reports of infiltration by trained terrorists from our neighbor Pakistan poses a huge security threat while the country is battling COVID-19.
