Srinagar: Security forces on Monday averted a major tragedy when they detected and defused an improvised explosive device (IED) near the railway station in Nowgam area of Srinagar, officials said.
A police official said that the IED was planted a few hundred meters away from the Nowgam Railway station near a bridge. Coincidently, the IED was spotted on a day when the government had announced resumption of rail services between Banihal to Baramulla after a gap of 11 months.
The IED was spotted by the Road Opening Party of the CRPF and the police after which Bomb Disposal Squad was called in. “The IED was fitted in a tin box. It took BDS almost an hour to diffuse the IED,” a police official said.
He said that traffic was stopped for nearly an hour on Pantha Chowk-Nowgam road as a precautionary measure. A security official said that the IED was about 1.5 to 2 Kgs and could have resulted in a huge damage if it wasn’t diffused in time.
A CRPF official said during the morning checking, the RoP found a suspicious object and later checked it after which BDS was called. “Later it turned out to be an IED,” he said.
“IED was successfully diffused and traffic was restored on the road,” Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said.
On February 14, an IED weighing 7 kgs was spotted and diffused in General Bus Stand area of Jammu. A CRPF official said that a major tragedy was averted by the timely detection of the IED
