Today, a Major-rank Army officer was killed and a soldier suffered injuries while defusing an improvised explosive device at Nowshera sector in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri. The officer is from the Corps of Engineers. The explosive had been planted by intruders from Pakistan about 1.5 kilometres inside the Line of Control.
Today's incident comes just 48 hours after more than 40 CRPF personnel were killed in the worst terror attack on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir. On Thursday afternoon, a suicide bomber detonated a car-load of explosives next to a large convoy of 78 CRPF buses with over 2,500 personnel travelling on the highway from Jammu to Srinagar. The attack was immediately claimed by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Following the attack, the government had decided to take all possible diplomatic steps to ensure "complete isolation" of Pakistan and also withdrew 'Most Favoured Nation' status granted to the country. On Thursday evening, New Delhi urged the international community to back the naming of Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Masood Azhar as a "UN designated terrorist".
This was the second IED attack along the Line of Control in the same sector since January. On January 11, two Army personnel, including a major, were killed in Nowshera