The recovery of ‘sticky bombs’ from Samba sector 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. 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 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. 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.
