Militants attack army vehicle with IED

In a pre-dawn attack, militants on Tuesday tried to blow up an armoured army vehicle in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district by detonating an improvised explosive device (IED).

A police officer said that at around 3:30 am, militants triggered an IED in Navpora Payeen in Pulwama when an armoured vehicle (Casper) of 44 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) was passing through the area.

“Soon after the blast, militants also fired upon the vehicle. However, there was no report of any loss of life or injuries,” he said.

This was the second such attack in south Kashmir during the past four months. On May 27, militants triggered an IED in Turkwangam area of Shopian, causing injuries to four army men.

Sources said after suffering heavy causalities at the hands of security forces since last year, militants in Kashmir are focusing on carrying out more IED attacks on vital security installations in the state.

“Fidayeen (suicide) and IED attacks have been the strategies adopted by militant handlers across the border to inflict more causalities on security forces and create news. The Jaish-e-Mohammad terror outfit, which has been assigned the job of carrying out fidayeen and IED attacks, is setting up its networks across Kashmir and especially in southern parts of the Valley” they revealed.

A senior police officer said they apprehend that few experts from across the border may have crossed over and joined the militants to revitalise and use the deadly old technique of IED blasts. “There is a possibility of more IED attacks in coming months as local recruitment, as well as infiltration continues unabated,” he added.

Meanwhile, militants on Tuesday morning attacked the residence of senior National Conference (NC) leader Abdul Rahim Rather in central Kashmir's Budgam district in a bid to snatch the rifles of the security guards.

However, the alert security guards foiled the bid by responding to the attack, police said. Rather was not present in the house at the time of the attack.