Army men carry out a combing operation in Akhnoor sector of Jammu. Tribune photo

Amir Karim Tantray

Tribune News Service

Jammu, October 5

A day after militants struck at a BSF camp near Srinagar International Airport, a terror strike was averted at an Army camp in Akhnoor with timely detection of explosives on Wednesday.Giving details, Public Relation Officer (PRO) of 16 Corps, Col Hari said the alert Army personnel at Akhnoor helped in averting a major terrorist strike at the camp.“On Wednesday night, sentries observed suspicious movement close to the Army unit, located near the Akhnoor market. Thereafter, the response mechanism was activated wherein the entire area was cordoned off and a search operation was conducted. During the area sanitisation process, the security force with the help of a dog squad, recovered one fully installed improvised explosive device (IED), two mines, Army accoutrements and other incriminating stores,” he said. The combing operations were conducted during today also. Apart from the IED, the Army has also recovered a knife, Army fatigues of the Romeo Force and the Rashtriya Rifles, state maps, local map of Akhnoor, a rope, visiting card of a businessman, Indian currency notes and a book for learning Arabic. The area is very close to the 10 Division of the Army. Akhnoor falls on the western side of Jammu and is very close to the Line of Control (LoC). The area has remained on the target of militants for long.On January 9 this year, three labourers of the General Reserve Engineer Force were killed in a suspected terror attack at Battal village near the LoC in the Khour area of Akhnoor. On July 22, 2003, a Brigadier and seven soldiers were killed when three militants stormed an Army installation in the Tanda area near Akhnoor.On November 29, last year, seven soldiers, including two Majors, were killed at Nagrota when militants stormed an Army camp, three kilometres from 16 Corps headquarters.