Jammu: Car explodes in Banihal, CRPF bus damaged

A powerful blast in a Santro car under mysterious circumstances caused panic along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway at Peer Moth near Jawahar Tunnel in Banihal Saturday morning.

Giving details, sources said the blast appears to have been caused by an LPG cylinder inside the vehicle. The car was coming from Srinagar side, sources said, adding that the blast occurred around 11.30 am when it hit a CRPF bus from behind. The CRPF in a statement said, "An explosion took place in a civil car near Banihal while CRPF convoy was on move. The car caught fire and slight damage was caused in the rear of one of the CRPF vehicle. No injuries were caused to CRPF Personnel. Incident being investigated in respect to all possible angles."

IGP Jammu zone M K Sinha said that experts have rushed to the spot and nothing can be said about the cause of blast until they examine the site. "Yes, there is an exploded cylinder along with an unexploded one found at the blast site," he said, adding that no one in the CRPF bus has been injured.

While the car was destroyed, there was slight damage to the CRPF vehicle. No one was injured as the car first caught fire before the blast, sources said. The driver of the Santro car had jumped out of the vehicle and escaped. A search operation is underway.

(Inputs from The Indian Express)