Two Army Personnel Injured in Landmine Blast During Defusal Operation in J&K's Poonch

Jammu: Two Army personnel were injured after a landmine exploded while they were attempting to defuse it in the Mendhar sector of Poonch district, officials said on Thursday.

The incident occurred on Wednesday night at Kanga Gali, where an Army patrol had spotted the explosive device during a routine patrol. A bomb disposal team was subsequently called in to neutralise the landmine, but it detonated during the operation.

The injured soldiers were immediately shifted to an Army hospital, where they are undergoing treatment, officials said.

Landmines are part of the anti-infiltration obstacle system deployed along the Line of Control (LoC) to prevent infiltration. However, heavy monsoon rains, flash floods and soil erosion often dislodge these explosives, causing them to drift away from their original marked locations.

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These so-called "drift landmines" pose a significant risk to security personnel, local residents and livestock, as they can be carried into previously safe or unmarked areas by water runoff and mudslides.

Such incidents have been reported in the past from border districts including Poonch, Rajouri and Baramulla, where old anti-personnel mines have shifted due to adverse weather conditions.

In a separate incident, officials said a rusted unexploded ordnance, believed to be a hand grenade, was recovered from the Nalwa Degwar Terwan area after road construction workers spotted the device. The Army's bomb disposal squad later safely destroyed the explosive without any casualties.

With inputs from IANS