Two soldiers injured in landmine explosion in J&K’s Poonch

Two Army soldiers were injured in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district while defusing a drift landmine near Kanga Gali. Officials said the explosives were displaced by rain and erosion. Another unexploded grenade was recovered and safely destroyed by the Army’s bomb disposal squad

Jammu: Two soldiers were injured while trying to defuse a landmine in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district, said officials on Thursday. The officials said the soldiers were trying to defuse the landmine at Kanga Gali in Mendhar sector on Wednesday night when it went off.

“The injured soldiers were immediately rushed to an Army hospital for treatment. The landmine was noticed by a patrolling party of the army, and subsequently, the experts were summoned to defuse the explosive device,” officials said.

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As part of an anti-infiltration obstacle system, the forward areas are dotted with landmines, which sometimes get washed away by rain. These are technically called ‘drift landmines’, and most accidents along the Line of Control (LoC) are caused by these landmines.

Accidents caused by drift landmines along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir primarily happen when heavy monsoon rain, flash floods, and soil erosion dislodge old anti-personnel mines, washing them into previously cleared or safe pathways.

As these explosives drift into unmarked territories, they pose a severe hazard to patrolling soldiers, border residents, and livestock. Severe weather, such as widespread cloudbursts and flash floods or sudden mudslides, severely erodes the mountain terrain where protective grids are deployed. The forces of water runoff shift the buried, often rusted anti-personnel explosives down ridges and into streams or patrol routes.

This strips away the safety provided by mapped and fenced minefields. Accidents due to drifting landmines have occurred in the past in Baramulla, Poonch, and Rajouri districts of the union territory where strips of ‘No Man’s Land’ are covered by landmines as part of the anti-infiltration grid.

Meanwhile, a rusted unexploded ordnance was recovered from the Nalwa Degwar Terwan area and was later safely destroyed by the bomb disposal squad of the Army. The device, believed to be a hand grenade, was noticed by some labourers engaged in road construction work in the area, the officials said.