Security forces recover 5 kgs IED in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district; cross-LoC trade suspended

The security forces on Tuesday foiled a terrorist plan to engineer a blast as they recovered and defused an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) weighing 5 kilogrammes in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district, officials said. [caption id=“attachment_3855771” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] During the area domination exercise conducted jointly by the army and the police in Loran-Mandi in Poonch district, an IED weighing 5 kilogrammes was recovered, a police officer said. Traffic on Loran Mandi road was suspended and the IED defused, he said. The IED was recovered on the Loran-Mand road just a few days ahead of the commencement of the annual ‘Buddha Amarnath yatra’ to a mountainous shrine of Lord Shiva in the Poonch district. The pilgrimage will begin from 28 July. Restrictions imposed in Srinagar Meanwhile, restrictions under Section 144 of CrPC were imposed in five police station areas of Nowhatta, MR Gunj, Rainawari, Khanyar and Safakadal in Srinagar in view of a strike called by the separatists. The separatists, chairmen of both factions of Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and JKLF chief Yasin Malik, yesterday called for a strike against the arrest of seven separatists. However, the strike evoked a mixed response in the Valley as shops and other business establishments were open in few areas of Srinagar and shut in other areas, officials said. They said public transport was also plying in some areas of the city. The officials said similar reports were received from other district headquarters of the Valley. Cross-LoC trade suspended Authorities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) suspended cross-LoC trade along the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route. “We have received a letter from authorities on the other side (of the LoC) saying the trade on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route will remain suspended for this week,” a senior official said in Srinagar. He said no reasons were given for suspending the trade, which takes place from Tuesday to Friday every week between the traders of Jammu and Kashmir and PoK. The decision to suspend the trade comes four days after Mohammad Yoususf Shah, a driver from Chakoti in PoK, was arrested following recovery of 66.5 killogrammes of heroin and brown sugar, worth over Rs 300 crore, from his vehicle. With inputs from PTI