NSG still trying to deal with IED menace: D- G

At a time when IEDs remain a “weapon of choice” for elements like Naxals, extremists and terrorists to perpetrate violence, the NSG lost an experienced counter- IED officer to a deadly booby trap in the Pathankot terror attack as the terrorists used an innovative technique whose antidote was not included in the Standard Operating Procedure of the elite counter- terror force.

The NSG on Thursday rued the fact that security agencies dealing with the menace of IEDs and similar local bombs are still “groping’’ with the challenge of detecting their presence and triggering mechanisms.

After losing the “brilliant” officer Lt. Col. Niranjan EK, the force has now decided to revise its Standard Operating Procedures for defusing bombs and Improvised Explosive Devices, a senior NSG official said on Thursday.

“Recently, we had an incident at Pathankot where a grenade was used as a booby trap and unfortunately, NSG lost one of its brilliant officers. In this case, everything that was there in the SOP was followed but the terrorists used an innovative thing which somehow was not included in the SOP and that perhaps led to this unfortunate incident.”

“We are now revising our SOPs. We have learnt our lessons and we will incorporate ( new things). The scope for improvement is always there. No one can say that the SOP or the procedure which is prescribed right now cannot be improved. Once we have this experience, we keep on updating these SOPs,” the director- general of NSG, Mr R. C. Tayal said while addressing an international seminar on combating the menace of IEDs.