An army man was killed and three others wounded in an Improvised Explosive device (IEDD) blast in Subhanpora-Shamsipora area along the Srinagar-Jammu national highway in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Wednesday.
The IED was planted in an abandoned building in the government middle school Subhanpora premises.
“At around 10:15 am, the Road Opening Party (ROP) of army’s 24 RR was passing by the building when the IED was detonated,” a police official said.
He said four army men sustained injuries and were evacuated to army’s 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar.
One among them identified as Deepak Kumar of Kosli Rewari, Haryana, later succumbed to his injuries.
The three injured army men undergoing treatment are Havaldar Sameeka Kumar, a resident of Odisha, Nayek Methil Barl also a native of Odisha and Karan Sing of Nagore, Rajasthan.
The roof of the building was also damaged in the attack.
Soon after the attack, a search operation was carried out in the area.
“The security personnel would use the verandah of the building on a regular basis for various purposes. So, it is evident that the attack was planned well in advance after observing troop movement,” a police official said.
The area where the incident took place falls in the police jurisdiction of Kulgam.
This was the first major militant attack on the security forces in Kashmir this year. The Army said that they were ascertaining the nature of the blast.