IEDs triggered by timer likely used in twin blasts in Udhampur: Sources

Arjun Sharma

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Jammu, September 29

Ahead of the scheduled visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to Jammu and Kashmir, twin IED blasts in two passenger buses within a time gap of eight hours rocked Udhampur district. Two persons were left injured in the blasts.

The first explosion occurred at around 10.30 pm on Wednesday inside an empty bus that was parked near a petrol pump at Domail Chowk. The other blast took place at around 6 am on Thursday morning in a bus parked in the Old Bus Stand of the district.

The explosions were so intense that they ripped apart parts of the buses. Police have said that the blasts occurred due to supposed IEDs that were planted inside buses. The two persons who received minor injuries in Wednesday’s blast were sent to a local hospital.

Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) of Jammu division, Mukesh Singh in an official statement said “An explosion took place in a parked bus at around 10:30 pm last night near a petrol pump at Domail Chowk, Udhampur in which two people sustained minor injuries. Another similar blast took place in another bus parked in old bus stand Udhampur at 6 am today wherein no casualty has been reported”.

Union Home Minister was earlier scheduled to visit Jammu on September 30 but somehow his visit was postponed to October 3. Shah will review the security situation of J-K besides holding two mega rallies in Rajouri and Baramulla on October 4 and 5 respectively.

Mukesh Singh also visited the blast site and said that after examination it has been found that both the blasts are very similar. “From initial investigation, it seems that high intensity IEDs were used in both the blasts. It seems that the terror modules we are tracking for past sometime are behind these blasts” he informed.

The blasts occurred in both the buses at the time when there were no passengers inside. Teams of experts including bomb disposal and dog squad of army, State Investigation Agency (SIA) and FSL teams visited the site.

Police sources informed that timer could have been used to trigger the IED. Both the buses used to travel on Ramnagar-Basantgarh route and are parked in Udhampur town during evening.

DIG Udhampur-Reasi range Suleman Chouhary and SSP Udhampur Vinod Kumar also reached the explosion site on Thursday morning. National Investigation Agency (NIA) is expected to assist the J-K police and SIA in the investigation.

Suleman Chouhary informed that some other buses that were parked near Domail Chowk were also damaged. “Further investigation is going on as we are talking to the driver of the bus and those who were injured due to explosion” said Choudhary.

Security in neighboring Reasi district, that is witnessing heavy rush of pilgrims at Vaishno Devi shrine due to ongoing Navratri, was also strengthened. Additional CRPF personnel were deployed in Katra and roads connecting the town.

In March this year, an IED was planted near court complex in Udhampur by a terrorist from Ramban district in which one person died and 15 were injured.  The Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorist was later arrested by police.

Udhampur houses the vital Northern Command of Army due to which the town has been on target of ultras since long.

Sources in Intelligence informed that the incident is most likely a work of a group of people and not an individual. “We are working to know which group could be behind the blasts and from where the members of the group had come. The investigation is likely to reach as far as Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban district” sources said.