An innocuous looking four-room, single storeyed house at Gopalpora, on the outskirts of Srinagar, has coughed up a deadly explosives haul that, say J&K police, is proof that militants are planning to introduce more Middle East type suicide missions—ramming explosive-laden vehicles into targets—in the Valley.The hideout, discovered by the Budgam police on Monday, was a bomb-making laboratory, explosive dump, training camp and office all at once. Tucked away behind the commode in the bathroom was an entrance to four underground cellars, which were crammed with explosives and devices to make bombs and improvised explosive devices.‘‘If the explosives had exploded accidentally, the entire population within a 5-km radius would have been destroyed,’’ Deputy Inspector General of Police for Kashmir Range, Farooq Ahmad, said. ‘‘The plan was to use the hide-out as a launch pad for deadly strikes like the October 1983 Beirut bombing, where a truck carrying explosives rammed into the American Marine Barracks. Incidents like the Oklahama bombing, where nitric acid and urea were used to bring down a building, could have been repeated here a hundred times.’’Here’s what the dump threw up: 14 barrels of hydrogen peroxide, a drum full of carbon tetrachloride, 98 cans of sulphuric acid, 128 jars filled with nitric acid, 42 kgs of three different types of RDX, some bags of Urea, Borosil flasks, plastic pipes and containers for mixing the ingredients.‘‘There were 35 kgs of white RDX, 5 kgs of black RDX and 2 kgs of superior white RDX,’’ said Ahmad. ‘‘And the almirah concealed another small room behind it.’’ The Gopalpora area is said to be frequented by Hizbul Mujahideen militants. According to police sources, a local militant in his mid-forties was nabbed at the hideout, but Ahmad wouldn’t part with details. ‘‘It is not in the interest of our investigations,’’ he said.
