9 solar-powered rockets found in Jammu

9 solar-powered rockets found in Jammu
PRASHANT SOOD

JAMMU, JAN 4: Recovery of nine sophisticated solar-powered rockets and a powerful IED in the past two days from areas near Jammu city has taken the veil off the ISI plan to target the winter capital of the state in a big way.The Chinese-made 107 mm rockets had been kept in the Niki Tawi area, about 8 km from the heart of Jammu city. While three of these were recovered by the Jammu police yesterday, six more were recovered today. An IED containing two kg of black RDX had also been recovered from a 66 KV Tower in R S Pura.

The rockets can be activated by solar energy and take only five minutes and 30 seconds to ignite when attached to a two-cell battery. Having a range of 7-10 km, each rocket carries about eight kg of high explosives which is distributed in seven rods inside. Talking of the destructive potential of the rockets, Gurbachan Jagat, DGP, Jammu and Kashmir Police, said that these could destroy buildings. While four of the rockets had been directed towards the M A Stadium, the venue of the RepublicDay parade, one was directed towards the Jammu airport and another towards Army area near the airport.

Adequate elevation had been given to the rockets to strike at the targets. Three of these were meant to strike the M A Stadium on the Republic Day and carried the date and time of their activation written with a sketch pen. While the date was mentioned as January 26, 2000, the time was mentioned as 9.30 am on two rockets and 10 am on another. R V Raju, IGP Jammu police said that the Programme Time Devices (PTDs) of the rockets, which carried information about their date and time, could be preset one year in advance. However, he said, that the rockets appeared to be recently smuggled ones as the marking on these was quite clear. The 9 volt batteries found with them were USA-made.

The rockets, police officials said, were hidden in bushes and were spread over a ``compact area''. Sources said that the chance discovery of one of the rockets was made by some children yesterday when they had gone to the NikiTawi area to pluck some fruit. The police, who were informed of the discovery, later made intensive searches to find eight other rockets in the area. Such rockets were last found in 1994 in R S Pura. The IED found near a power tower today was meant to disrupt the power supply and officials said that blast would have damaged the main grid also.

Senior police officials said that having stoked fire of militancy in other districts of the Jammu region, the Pakistani ISI was now planning to strike in Jammu city. This was meant to cause panic among people and create a communal divide. They said that intelligence reports suggested movement of militants in areas adjoining the city. The police officials said that the militant strikes had increased after the takeover by military regime in Pakistan and the situation was almost war-like. They said that militants had the full backing of the ruling regime in Pakistan.

The DGP said that senior officials of the various security forces were meeting on a daily basis to takestock of the situation and expressed confidence that forces will able to meet the new challenge.