Srinagar, Dec 9: An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was detected on Monday by the security forces on the Srinagar-Baramulla Highway in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) on Monday, thereby averting a major tragedy.

Officials said that traffic on the Srinagar-Baramulla Highway was suspended after the security forces detected an IED in Palhallan area of the highway on Monday morning.

“The timely detection of the IED averted a major tragedy on the highway. A bomb disposal squad is now defusing the IED so that traffic on the busy highway is restored”, officials said.

Teams of 29 Rashtriya Rifles, Sashastra Seema Bal and police are on the job, officials added.

Terrorists have been using remote triggered or pressure IEDs to target convoys of the security forces and the Army on roads, streets and highways in J&K.

These explosive devices have also been used by the terrorists to target VIP cavalcades in J&K.

It is to secure the passage of security force convoys and VIP cavalcades in addition to the general public that Road Opening Parties (ROPs) of security forces equipped with electronic devices and sniffer dogs move out with the first light to sanitise roads for the safety of normal traffic movement during the day.

Terrorists have carried out some dastardly attacks in J&K after the successful, people-participative Lok Sabha and legislative Assembly elections in J&K this year.

Security forces say that the handlers of terrorism sitting across the border have become impatient after witnessing the peaceful conduct of elections in J&K.

It is for this reason that the terrorists have been directed by their masters to increase attacks to instil fear in the minds of the common citizen.

To counter this strategy of terror handlers, the J&K Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha has directed the security forces to start an aggressive anti-terror campaign against terrorists, their Over Ground Workers (OGWs) and sympathisers to deal a death blow to the terror ecosystem in the UT.

--IANS

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