A Border Security Force jawan was "seriously" injured in an IED blast that occurred ahead of the fence along the India-Pakistan international border in Punjab on Wednesday.
It is the first such instance at this front of usage of this dangerous concoction of explosives and shrapnel used to kill and maim.
The incident took place on the intervening night of April 8-9 near Dorangla village in Gurdaspur district. The Border Security Force (BSF) has issued an "alert" all along the 553 km of this front in Punjab and suspension of farming around the blast area.
The BSF will take up the matter and issue a strong protest note to their counterparts across the border -- Pakistan Rangers -- once a "technical and forensic" investigation concludes, sources in the force told PTI.
The force said in a statement that a BSF party was undertaking an "area domination" patrol ahead of the fence during the night and it detected " multiple" (about two IEDs as per preliminary inputs) improvised explosive devices (IEDs) with concealed wires "well inside" the Indian territory.
This patrol party aimed to dominate the area and ensure the safety of troops, defence personnel, and local farmers who frequently traverse and ply on the route during the daytime.
While cordoning off and sanitising the area, the detonating device of some of the IEDs, which was concealed, accidentally got triggered, resulting in a serious leg injury to a BSF jawan, the statement said.
The constable rank jawan suffered injuries to his feet and one of his toes blew off due to the blast, the sources said.
Despite the inherent risks, the troops continued their operation, successfully securing the area and preventing a potentially "massive" tragedy to force personnel and farmers, the BSF said.
The remaining IEDs were defused after daybreak.
The Gurdaspur area has seen a few cross-border drone sorties that illegally bring in narcotics from Pakistan but an IED is certainly new, a senior BSF officer based in Punjab said.
Officers from BSF's Punjab Frontier headquartered in Jalandhar have reached the spot and are undertaking a security review even as an alert has been issued, he said.
"This is the first time that an IED attack has taken place in this area or anywhere along the Punjab border or for that matter across the entire 2,289 kms of this IB," the officer said.
Landmines were planted by both India and Pakistani forces during the 1965 and 1971 wars and during 'Operation Parakram' when India mobilised its defence forces to the Pakistan front in the aftermath of the 2001 Parliament attack. These landmines were marked and neutralised but IEDs were never used, another BSF officer said.
The BSF will "change" its strategy while patrolling this border which is done on foot and on horse backs, the senior BSF officer said.
The force will lodge a complaint with the local police too, he said.
The BSF said in the statement that the "bravery displayed by the personnel not only averted a major incident but also safeguarded countless civilian lives."
IEDs are a major threat to the lives of security personnel and civilians in other combat theatres of the country like Left Wing Extremism (LWE), terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and insurgency in the north eastern states apart from such terrorist triggered blasts in metro cities leading to numerous deaths and loss of limbs for many.
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