New Delhi/Amritsar: A BSF jawan was “seriously” injured in an IED blast ahead of the fence along the India-Pakistan international border in Punjab on Wednesday. It is the first such instance at this front that a dangerous concoction of explosives and shrapnel was used in a bid to kill and maim.
A BSF party was undertaking an “area domination” patrol ahead of the fence during the night and it detected “multiple” (about two IEDs according to preliminary inputs) improvised explosive devices (IEDs) with concealed wires “well inside” the Indian territory.
While cordoning off and sanitising the area during an “area domination” patrol, the detonating device of some of the IEDs which was concealed accidentally got triggered, resulting in a serious leg injury to the BSF jawan, a statement by the force said.
The incident took place around 1 AM near the Dorangla village in Gurdaspur district. The Border Security Force (BSF) has issued an “alert” all along the 532 km of this front in Punjab and suspension of farming around the blast area.
“Two IEDs of about 2 kgs each along with a detonating device were deployed,” BSF deputy inspector general (DIG) for Punjab Frontier A K Vidyarthi said.
One IED went off after the jawan stepped on it while the second was defused by a BSF bomb disposal team after daybreak.
The constable rank jawan suffered injuries to his feet and one of his toes blew off due to the blast, sources said.
The jawan is stable now, they said.
The BSF will take up the matter and issue a strong protest note to their counterparts across the border — Pakistan Rangers — as the concoction bore signatures of a “military precision” assembling.
The force recovered metallic sheets, a green plastic to cover the explosive and cordtex wire used to detonate such bombs.
Security officials said the tiffin box-like IED was deployed about 3-4 days back and could have been timed to hurt local farmers during the visit of Union home minister Amit Shah to Jammu that took place on April 6. The Gurdaspur district abuts Jammu.
The force, along with the local police, are undertaking a “technical and forensic” investigation, sources in the force told PTI.
The patrol party aims to dominate the area and ensure the safety of troops, defence personnel, and local farmers who frequently traverse and ply on the route during the daytime.
Despite the inherent risks, the troops continued their operation, successfully securing the area and preventing a potentially “massive” tragedy to force personnel and farmers, the BSF said.
The Gurdaspur area has seen a few cross-border drone sorties that illegally bring in weapons from Pakistan but an IED is certainly new, a senior BSF officer based in Punjab said.
Officers from BSF’s Punjab Frontier headquartered in Jalandhar have reached the spot and are undertaking a security review even as an alert has been issued, he said.
“This is the first time that an IED attack has taken place in this area or anywhere along the Punjab border or for that matter across the entire 2,289 kms of this IB. This is a new danger on this front,” the officer said.
Landmines were planted by both India and Pakistani forces during the 1965 and 1971 wars and during ‘Operation Parakram’ when India mobilised its defence forces to the Pakistan front in the aftermath of the 2001 Parliament attack. These landmines were marked and neutralised but IEDs were never used, another BSF officer said.
The BSF, in the wake of this incident, has decided to “change” its strategy while patrolling this border which is done on foot and on horse backs, the senior BSF officer said.
Security forces need to be “very careful” henceforth while patrolling the IB in Punjab and elsewhere, he said.
The force will lodge a complaint with the local police too, he said.
The BSF said in the statement that the “bravery displayed by the personnel not only averted a major incident but also safeguarded countless civilian lives.”
IEDs are a major threat to the lives of security personnel and civilians in other combat theatres of the country like Left Wing Extremism (LWE), terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and insurgency in the north eastern states apart from such terrorist triggered blasts in metro cities leading to numerous deaths and loss of limbs for many.
