Sources said it appears to be an IED blast. It is suspected that the IED might have been carried by a drone and dropped at the wrong site close to the border, they said.

A massive crater formed after a powerful blast at a village near the India-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district has triggered fear among the locals, officials said on Thursday.

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Sources said it appeared to be an IED blast. It is suspected that the IED might have been carried by a drone and dropped at the wrong site close to the border, they said.

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Information about the explosion was received around 9.30 pm on Wednesday, SSP Kathua Shivdeep Singh Jamwal told PTI. 

"We have also launched a search operation Thursday morning. The bomb squad has collected the samples from the site and sent them for tests," the SSP said.

Block Development Committee (BDC) chairman Ram Lal Kaliya, a resident of Saniyal village, which is just 300 metres from the border post, said, "Around 9.30 pm on Wednesday, we heard an explosion. I informed the post in charge who also confirmed the sound of the blast."

The blast site was located after one-and-half hours, he said, adding that a big crater was found in an agriculture field. 

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