Security forces on Tuesday foiled plans by militants to set off a series of car bombs ahead of the crucial May 25 round table conference in Srinagar [Images] when they unearthed an elaborate laboratory run by outlawed militant outfits in Jammu and Kashmir's [Images] Anantnag district.

The laboratory, being run by the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and Lashkar-e-Tayiba, in a private house to assemble various Improvised Explosive Device circuits for car bombs was busted during raids in Bijbehara, 45 km from Srinagar, a defence spokesman said.

The raids were conducted on hideouts of LeT and HM outfits following recovery of a diary of a top Hizbul Mujahideen militant and mastermind behind all major car combs attacks since 2004 Mustaq Ahmed Bhat alias Gowhar, who was killed in an ambush by security forces on Sunday at Noorpora-Tral in Pulwama district, he said.

Terming the busting of the laboratory as a major success, he said 24 remote controls for IEDs, 28 kg of assorted explosive, two electric detonators, ten pencil cells, two dry batteries, three ball bearing packets, 40 plastic boxes, one wire cutter, one soldiering iron, soldering wire bundles, six radio sets and one rifle silencer were recovered from the house of one Abdul Rashid Dar of Bijbehara, who is absconding.

The spokesman said the raids also led to the busting of large number of hideouts.

Documents and intercepts revealed that the explosives recovered were, in all likelihood, to be used for setting off blasts at various places in Srinagar, Anantnag and Pulwama prior to the May 25 round table conference being convened by the prime minister in Srinagar, he said.

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