Terrorist hideout busted in J&K’s Poonch, IEDs and wireless sets recovered

Five improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and two wireless sets were recovered after a terrorist hideout was busted in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district, said officials on Monday.

Officials said that five ready-to-use IEDs, weighing between half a kg and five kgs, were destroyed in a controlled explosion on the spot, thereby thwarting terrorist plans to set off explosions in the border district.

“The hideout was busted during a joint search operation by the Army and the special operations group (SoG) of J&K Police at Suranthal in Marhote area of Surankote late Sunday evening," said officials.

Two IEDs were found planted inside steel buckets, and three others were packed in tiffin boxes. In addition, two wireless sets, five packets containing urea, one five-litre gas cylinder, one pair of binoculars, three woollen caps, three blankets and some trousers and utensils were recovered from the hideout, the officials further said.

After the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, in which 26 civilians, including 25 tourists and a local, were killed in Baisaran meadow, security forces have started massive crackdowns in the Valley and the Jammu division against terrorists, their overground workers (OGWs) and sympathisers.

The security has been beefed up across the state, and additional checkpoints have been set up on highways and sensitive areas, including key installations and tourist spots.

A fully tech-aided joint operation has been underway since April 22 in south Kashmir areas to hunt down the five terrorists believed to have carried out the cowardly attack against unarmed tourists in Baisran meadow.

The carnage has resulted in national outrage. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given operational freedom to the armed forces to avenge the Pahalgam terror attack.

Deportation of all Pakistani nationals, closing of the Attari-Wagah border crossing point, putting the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance, cancelling all trade and cultural exchanges with Pakistan and stopping mail and parcel services from Pakistan are some of the measures announced by the government in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack.