Giving details, sources said the blast appears to have been caused by an LPG cylinder kept inside the vehicle. The car was coming from Srinagar side, sources said, adding that the blast occurred around 11.30 am when it hit a CRPF bus from behind.
Over a month after the deadly attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama, militants on Saturday unsuccessfully attempted to blow up a paramilitary forces bus near Banihal, sources said. A powerful blast in a Santro car took place along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway at Peer Moth near Jawahar Tunnel.
While prima facie the blast appeared to have been caused by an LPG cylinder inside the vehicle, sources said that police have found a letter written by the car driver claiming himself to be associated with terror organisation Hizbul Mujahideen and that he was taking the extreme step in view of “atrocities on Kashmiris since 1947.”
However, the authenticity of the letter is being ascertained. Police have also seized an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) from the blast site, sources added. The car was coming from Srinagar side, sources said, adding that the blast occurred around 11.30 am when it hit a CRPF bus from behind.
The CRPF in a statement said, “An explosion took place in a civil car near Banihal while CRPF convoy was on move. The car caught fire and slight damage was caused in the rear of one of the CRPF vehicle. No injuries were caused to CRPF Personnel. Incident being investigated in respect to all possible angles.”
IGP Jammu zone M K Sinha said that experts have rushed to the spot and nothing can be said about the cause of blast until they examine the site. “Yes, there is an exploded cylinder along with an unexploded one found at the blast site,” he said, adding that no one in the CRPF bus has been injured.
While the car was destroyed, there was slight damage to the CRPF vehicle. No one was injured as the car first caught fire before the blast, sources said. The driver of the Santro car had jumped out of the vehicle and escaped. A search operation is underway.
Meanwhile,A team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday visited Banihal to collect samples from the scene of the blast in which Santro car was completely damaged while a paramilitary CRPF vehicle suffered minor damages.
Official sources told GNS that a team of NIA arrived at Banihal late afternoon and visit the blast scene. They collected samples, the officials said. An official of the NIA also confirmed collection of the samples but declined to comment further.
Earlier, police sources said that a team from the Hyundai Motors India visited the scene and based on the chassis and other details, identified the owner of the vehicle. It has been registered on 21 February 2011, they said.
There were no casualties in the incident that occurred near the Jawahar Tunnel on the highway around 10.30 a.m. The incident triggered memories of the February 14 vehicle-borne suicide attack by a Pulwama youth on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in his native south Kashmir district that claimed the lives of 49 paramilitary personnel.
According to a preliminary investigation, the blast near Tethar village occurred after one of the two gas cylinders in the Hyundai Santro model caught fire.
Police said the Santro was completely gutted in the fire and at the time of the blast, CRPF vehicle, which was passing through the highway at the time of the incident, suffered slight damages in the rear side but all the personnel on board escaped unhurt.
The blast created panic in Banihal and soon police rushed a team of experts to the spot to ascertain whether the blast happened due to cylinder explosion or due to any explosive material.
“Hitherto, it seems to be a cylinder blast. A team of NIA also visited the spot and collected samples. Further investigations are underway,” SDPO Sajad Sarwar told GNS.
Asked about the possibility of militant attack and use of remote-controlled explosion, he said: “Possibility could be anything. Investigations are underway but so far it comes to be cylinder blast.”
Asked about the fate of driver, he said: “We are trying to trace the driver and this (driver’s escape) is making the case a bit suspicious.”
The driver of the Santro Car allegedly disappeared from the spot and police has so far not established whether he fled away or rushed to hospital in order to get treatment for the injuries which he might have suffered in the incident.
Police have launched a manhunt to find out the driver. Traffic on the strategic highway was also halted due to the blast and it resumed soon.
A CRPF vehicle near Jammu and Kashmir's Banihal town on Saturday morning suffered slight damage after a car exploded near it on the Jammu-Srinagar highway. Earlier the explosion was believed to have occurred after a gas cylinder of the car caught fire. However, suicide note near the site that reveals that it was Hijbul Mujaheddin that attempted another Pulwama-like attack. The driver of the car is still untraced and is believed to have escaped from the scene after setting the car in neutral gear towards the moving convoy. A massive manhunt is underway to nab the owner of the vehicle.
Speaking to the media after the incident, governor Satya Pal Malik said that investigation into the matter is going on and it's not been established if it was a terror attack. Malik asserted that though no explosive substance was found, nothing could be said at the moment.