IED blast along India-Pakistan international border in Punjab, BSF jawan injured

An IED blast took place ahead of the fence along the India-Pakistan international border in Punjab on the intervening night of April 8-9, in which a Border Security Force (BSF) jawan was injured.

The incident took place near Dorangla village in Gurdaspur district and is a rare instance of IEDs being planted along this sensitive front on India's western side, said the statement. Following the incident, the BSF has issued an "alert" all along the 553 km of this front in Punjab and suspension of farming around the blast area.

A BSF party was undertaking an "area domination" patrol ahead of the border security fence during the night and it detected multiple improvised explosive devices (IEDs) with concealed wires "well inside" the Indian territory, reported PTI quoting a statement from the force.

While cordoning off and sanitising the area, the detonating device of some of the IEDs, which was concealed, accidentally got triggered, resulting in a serious leg injury to a BSF jawan, it said.

This patrol party aimed 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.

The remaining IEDs were defused after daybreak, the force said.

Quoting sources, the report said that a constable rank jawan suffered injuries to his feet and one of his toes blew off due to the blast.

Sensitive area:

A senior BSF officer based in Punjab said that the Gurdaspur area has seen a few cross-border drone sorties that illegally bring in narcotics from Pakistan but an IED is certainly new. 

He added that officers from BSF's Punjab Frontier headquartered in Jalandhar have reached the spot and are undertaking a security review.

"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," the officer said.

During the 1965 and 1971 wars and during ‘Operation Parakram’, landmines were planted by both India and Pakistani forces, 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 will "change" its strategy while patrolling this border which is done on foot and on horse backs, the senior BSF officer said.

The force will lodge a complaint with the local police too, he said.

With agency inputs.