Shortly after a suspicious object discovered on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway in Jammu and Kashmir was confirmed to be an improvised explosive device, a video of security officers defusing the IED surfaced. On Saturday morning, the suspicious item was spotted on the highway.
The explosion was seen on the vacant road in a 19-second video tweeted by news agency ANI. "A major tragedy was averted on Saturday when the security forces detected and defused an improvised explosive device (IED) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district," Indian Army was quoted by ANI on its official Twitter handle.
The videos were released at a time when civilian deaths in the union territory had escalated.
A Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist was killed earlier on Saturday in the Kulgam area.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha reviewed the preparations for the next annual Amarnath Yatra at a high-level meeting at Raj Bhawan on Thursday, amid worries over civilian safety. The 43-day trip to the south Kashmir Himalayas will begin on June 30.
Terrorists have killed several individuals, including non-locals, since May. On May 31, a teacher, Rajini Bala, was shot and killed outside her classroom. Bala, 36, was from Samba and had been teaching in Kulgam since 2011 when she was hired under the district cadre's Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes quota.
Rahul Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit, was also killed in one of these attacks last month. The death spurred residents to protest and flee their homes in search of safety.
Ambreen Bhat, a TV artiste and a famous figure on social media, was also slain in another incident. The attack also left her nephew injured.
(With ANI Inputs)