IED defused on Srinagar-Jammu national highway

Srinagar, Apr 15 (UNI) Security forces averted a major tragedy today when they detected and later defused a powerful Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway.

Meanwhile, unidentified gunmen shot at and wounded three people, including an auto-rickshaw driver, across the Kashmir valley since last evening.

Official sources said a road opening party of the security forces noticed a pressure cooker lying on the roadside at Galandhar near Pampore, about 15 km from here, on the 300-km Jammu-Srinagar national highway early this morning.

The entire area was immediately cordoned off and a bomb disposal squad summoned to check the pressure cooker.

The squad found a powerful IED connected to the pressure cooker which was defused later without causing any loss to life or property.

The sources said militants intercepted two people -- Niyaz Ahmad Bhat of Chira Marg and Touseef ahmad Bhat of Koker Gund -- at Kanjikul village in Yaripora area of Kulgam district last evening.

The two were shot at point blank. They were later rushed to a hospital in critical condition.

The sources said unidentified gunmen also shot at and wounded an Auto-rickshaw driver, Abdul Rashid Bhat, at Baba Demb in the downtown city this morning.

Bhat, 40, was immediately admited to the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura near here where his condition was stated to be out of danger, they added.

UNI