Srinagar: The three militants killed in Jammu’s Nagrota a day ago on Srinagar-Jammu highway had left Improvised Explosive Device (IED) under a hoarding on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway which another member of the module was to use to target forces, police said on Saturday.
Also, the trio affiliated with Jaish-e-Mohammad were carrying US-made sniper rifle and armoured piercing steel core ammunition’ which can go through Level 3 protection bulletproof vehicles that police and other government forces use, a police spokesperson said.
They had “dumped it at a convenient location” near a hoarding on the highway to be used by a third person of their module, who is currently in Jammu, they said.
The slain who were travelling in a Kashmir-bound truck were intercepted at Ban Toll Plaza by a policeman who grew suspicious about the truckload. Later, the truck was seized and its driver Sameer Dar, who is a cousin of Pulwama suicide bomber Adil Dar, alongside, his helper Asif Malik and another over ground worker (OGW) were arrested.
Based on the disclosure during questioning of the three OWGs, a police team and bomb disposal squad swung into action and defused the IED fitted with RDX, grenades and other material and placed under a hoarding at Nagrota on the highway, the officials said.
Efforts are on track down the person of the JeM module in Jammu who was to plant IED to target security forces, they said.
Police and security forces, meanwhile, detained five more truck operators from Rhembal and Udhampur last night and two of them had called Sameer Dar on telephone but involvement of all of them was being investigated, the officials said.

Reader correspondent