Traces of RDX have been found in the improvised explosive device used by terrorists in the Poonch ambush that killed five soldiers on April 20, police sources told News18 citing preliminary tests. The final forensic test reports are awaited.
The Jammu and Kashmir Police had on Friday said the attack on the Army vehicle was a “well-planned” one and executed by three to five terrorists. Six locals have been arrested for sheltering the terrorists before they carried out the attack using explosives and weapons that came from Pakistan through drones, police have said.
“The amount of RDX used was minimal and hence the IED was deliberately stuck to the fuel tank of the truck to use it as an incendiary device meant to cause maximum damage,” a police officer told News18.
The device used in the Poonch attack was similar to the one used in the Katra bus blast of May 2022 in which four people were killed and 24 injured when the vehicle carrying Vaishno Devi pilgrims caught fire. Investigators had said the fire was caused by a sticky bomb stuck to the fuel tank. Similar modus operandi was used in the Domail blast in Udhampur in September 2022.
While the Katra attack was claimed by a group called J&K Freedom Fighters, the Poonch ambush has been claimed by a group called the People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF).
IED Dropped by Drone
According to security agencies, smaller quantities of RDX are being dropped into Jammu via Punjab with Pakistan-based terror groups changing tack after the 2019 Pulwama attack for which 20kg RDX was smuggled in through a tunnel on the Sambha border. “These are fully assembled IEDs with RDX packed inside. All the attacker needs to do is stick the magnet to a place where minimum explosion can cause maximum fire,” an official told News18 on condition of anonymity.
In November last year, three different consignments of small IEDs were seized by the Jammu Police. One such consignment, detected in Sambha, was reportedly packed inside a wooden crate with a steel base and dropped by drone. It contained unassembled improvised explosive devices, Chinese pistols and Rs 5 lakh in cash, as per police.
Between July and November last year, several alleged Lashkar operatives were arrested for ferrying drone-dropped consignments from India-Pakistan border to their terror hideout.
The Attackers
According to investigators, three terrorists carried out the attack in Bata Doriya forest. Two of them are suspected to be Pakistanis who infiltrated in late December. The group responsible for the Poonch blast is also suspected to have a hand in the Dangri Village firing and IED blast of January 1.
A member of the Gujjar, alleged to be an over-ground worker for terror groups, has been arrested by the police and allegedly harboured the Bata Doriya terrorists for three months before the attack.
Speaking to News18 Kannada in an interview on the sidelines of Karnataka elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has expressed confidence that the Poonch case will be “solved very soon”. “We are taking the matter very seriously. Before the Poonch attack, not a single case has been unresolved. We will solve Poonch attack also,” he said.
The NIA, meanwhile, is carrying out searches at 12 locations in Jammu looking for over-ground workers who continue to support Lashkar and Jaish terrorists.
Read all the Latest India News here
Comments
0 comment