After the use of mobile phones to detonate improvised explosive devices (IEDs), militants have now turned to multiple detonators. The matter came to light after two CRPF personnel were killed in Jammu and Kashmir recently, when they carried a diffused IED, which was exploded within minutes by a second detonator.

The Home Ministry has alerted all security forces involved in counter-insurgency operations to take extra precaution while diffusing an IED.

Security forces have found a similar pattern of multiple detonators concealed in IEDs in other instances. CRPF Director General J K Dutt cited a case at Dantewada in Chhattisgarh when members of a bomb disposal squad had a narrow escape after dismantling a bomb that had two detonators. “Now that this new technology has arrived, it is obvious that militant outfits will seek to spread it and make greater use of it to kill security forces. All bomb disposal squads have been directed to be extra careful and look out for more than one detonator in IEDs,” an official said.

Security forces are also looking for ways to thwart explosions through mobile phones. Available jammers are able to block signals only upto 500 MHz, but celphones usually have a frequency of over 900 MHz. The police modernisation division under the Home Ministry is exploring options for the purchase of equipment to stem the menace.