Arrival of ‘sticky bombs’ in Valley sets off alarm bells
AFGHANISTAN HAS RECENTLY SEEN A SERIES OF STICKYBOMB ATTACKS TARGETING SECURITY FORCES, JUDGES, GOVT OFFICIALS, CIVIL SOCIETY ACTIVISTS AND JOURNALISTS
SRINAGAR: Security forces battling terrorism in Kashmir are alarmed by the recent arrival of small, magnetic bombs that have wreaked havoc in Afghanistan.
“Sticky bombs”, which can be attached to vehicles and detonated remotely, have been seized during raids in recent months in Jammu and Kashmir, three senior security officials told Reuters.
“These are small IEDS and quite powerful,” said Kashmir IG Vijay Kumar, referring to improvised explosive devices. “It will certainly impact the present security scenario as volume and frequency of vehicular movements of police and security forces are high in Kashmir.”
The arrival of sticky bombs in Kashmir, including 15 seized in a February raid, raises concerns that an unnerving tactic attributed to the Taliban insurgents in nearby Afghanistan could be spreading to the India-pakistan conflict.
Afghanistan in recent months has seen a series of sticky-bomb attacks targeting security forces, judges, government officials, civil society activists and journalists. The attacks - some as victims sat in traffic - have sown fear, while avoiding substantial civilian casualties.
None of the devices seized in Kashmir was produced there, a senior security official said, suggesting they were being smuggled from Pakistan. “All of them have come via drone drops and tunnels,” he said, asking not to be named.
Kashmir has long been a flashpoint between nucleararmed neighbours India and Pakistan.
Officials said the bombs are particularly worrying because they can be easily attached to vehicles using magnets, potentially allowing militants to carry out assassinations or target military convoys that regularly criss-cross the valley.
In February 2019, a suicide bomber drove a car laden with explosives into a convoy in
Kashmir’s Pulwama, killing 40 soldiers - the deadliest attack on Indian forces in the region bringing India and Pakistan to the brink of another war.
IG Vijay Kumar said that security forces were changing protocols to deal with the new threat. The measures included increasing the distance between private and military traffic, installing more cameras on vehicles and using drones to monitor convoys.
A difference between militants in Kashmir and Afghanistan is that the Taliban have tremendous ability to move around in urban and rural areas, which, along with the easier availability of explosives, make the bombs a potent threat.