Recovery of ‘sticky bombs’ indicates initiation of new phase of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir: Officials

The recovery of ‘sticky bombs’ from Samba sector in this region last month has set alarm bells ringing within the security establishment in Jammu and Kashmir as this indicates initiation of a new phase of terrorism in the union territory, officials said on Monday. The BSF had recovered the bombs dropped by a drone along the international border in the Samba sector of Jammu region on February 14, putting security agencies on high alert with an assumption that some of the IEDs could have already found their way to the Kashmir valley, the officials said.

According to the officials, the drone-dropped consignment had six pistols and 14 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) with inbuilt magnets, which could be used as ‘sticky bombs’ by sticking them on vehicles and controlling them using a timer and a remotely-held device.

The consignment was meant for The Resistance Force (TRF), believed to be a shadow outfit of banned Lashker-e-Taiba terror group, they said.

This definitely was the first such recovery of ‘sticky bombs’ which has found much use in Afghanistan and Iraq. In India, it was used by suspected Iranian terrorists in February 2012 by sticking a bomb on the car of an Israeli diplomat resulting in injury to his wife.

The recovery is a cause of concern in Kashmir and the standard operating procedures for the movement of security forces’ convoys need to be revised to eliminate this kind of a threat, a senior official said.

The development comes two years after a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist carried out a sensational attack when he rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a bus carrying security forces that left 40 CRPF personnel dead in 2019.

In response, India had carried out an air strike on terror camps located across the border.

Sticky bombs, which were also used by the British forces during World War II, can be put on any vehicle and detonated through a remote control or an in-built timer, the officials said.

This is yet another significant recovery after security forces had found three Point Detonating (PD) fuzes, used by the Pakistani army in their 82 mm mortar shells, from a terrorist in North Kashmir.

The three PDs were recovered by the Baramulla Police on the eve of New Year when the force intercepted a vehicle. Unaware of the material recovered, the police had declared it “unique grenade” which was later found to be the PD, used by the Pakistani army for the 82 MM mortar shells, they said.

The PD could be used during the fabrication (manufacture) of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) to increase its impact. It helps in super-quick detonation of explosives or at times can delay the impact mode for a bigger damage, the officials said.

The December seizure of PDs was also meant for the TRF group and one terrorist, identified as Asif Gul, was arrested.