Photo: Ajazkh / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
A powerful explosion, suspected to have been caused by an improvised explosive device (IED), went off near the Line of Control (LoC) in the Krishna Ghati sector of Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district on Monday, October 12, prompting security forces to put the entire sector on alert, officials said.
According to officials, the blast took place in the Satwal-Naki area close to the zero line while a group of people was moving along the Pakistani side of the LoC. They said there were casualties, but the number of people killed or injured was not immediately known.
Who was hit is still unclear
Officials said it was not yet established whether the group was made up of suspected militants trying to cross into Indian territory or Pakistani security personnel on patrol. The circumstances that led to the explosion are also still being examined.
Unconfirmed reports circulating on Monday evening put the death toll at four, with conflicting claims about who the dead were. There was no official confirmation of the number or the identities of those killed.
Following the explosion, security forces sounded an alert across the sector and intensified vigilance along the LoC to assess the situation and prevent any possible security breach.
Officials
Landmines found in nearby Mendhar
In a separate development the same day, Army troops found two rusted landmines near the border fence in the Basoni area of the neighbouring Mendhar sector. The mines were spotted during track construction work at 8.25 am and 12.10 pm and were later destroyed by Army experts in a controlled explosion. Officials said around a dozen landmines had been detected and defused in the area over the past week.
Forward areas on the Indian side of the LoC are laid with landmines as part of the anti-infiltration obstacle system, especially along known infiltration routes. Heavy rain can sometimes wash mines out of place, bringing them to the surface where they pose a risk to soldiers and villagers.
A known infiltration route
The Krishna Ghati belt has seen similar incidents before. In February 2025, officials said militants were believed to have been killed in an explosion in the Battal area of the same sector, after security forces noticed a group of five moving near the LoC on the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir side; sources said at the time that the group had probably stepped on a landmine.
Officials are expected to share more details once the situation along the LoC has been assessed and the nature of Monday’s explosion is established.
