Cops defuse IED on Srinagar highway

Ahead of Republic Day, security forces averted a major tragedy on Saturday when they detected and defused five kg of Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at Srinagar-Baramulla highway near Zainkote in the outskirts of Srinagar.

The incident occurred on Saturday morning. Security forces received a tip off that militants had planted the IED somewhere between Shalteng and Noora Hospital. Immediately, the bomb disposal squad and sniffer dogs were rushed to the spot.

After a thorough search, the security forces detected the IED. Traffic on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway was stopped and the IED was neutralised. "After getting the information, we shared it with 2nd battalion of Rashtriya Riffles (RR) and civil police. Primary responsibility of providing ROP (road opening party) of the area lies with them", said Rajesh Kumar, commanding officer of 44th battalion of the CRPF.

Accordingly, the team of RR, 44th battalion of CRPF and J&K police launched the search operation in the area. "The area was cordoned off and a thorough search was conducted with a dog squad and an explosive team. Finally around 9am, we came to know that one IED has been placed in the middle of the road near the divider. Finally, it was defused at 11am", said Kumar.

This is the second time in the past seven days that militants used IED to attack security forces. On January 6, four policemen including an officer were killed when Jaish-e-Mohammad militants detonated a powerful Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at the apple rich town of Sopore. This was for the first time since 2015 that the militants had used IED to target security forces in Jammu and Kashmir.