Byline: Aarti Tikoo Singh

JAMMU: The frequent grenade attacks in Jammu and Kashmir may be carried out by cross-border terrorists, but they have a distinct 'Made in China' tag, say top counter-insurgency experts.

For the past 15 years, terrorists have been using compact Chinese-made

"Indian grenades are more powerful than the Chinese made, but obviously the supply is routed through Pakistan, which is why Chinese grenades are used. We have never come across terrorists using Indian made grenades," said senior officers.

There are some basic differences between the two, say experts. While the outer casing of Indian HE-36 is made of iron, the Chinese variant has a plastic cover and is hence lighter than the Indian grenade. Besides, the Chinese grenades come in two sizes.

The regular-sized Chinese grenade is equivalent to the size of an Indian grenade and can be easily hidden in a male fist. The other is smaller, more or less the size of a regular onion. This one is called 'mushroom Chinese grenade'.

Grenades are made up of compounds of nitrate. These are never made at home, always factory-manufactured, experts added. The time-lag between the pulling the safety pin and the blast is a mere four seconds and it can cause destruction in an eight to 10 metre radius from the point of blast.

The damage is done by shrapnel, which is the debris of the iron casing in case of Indian grenades, or splinters, which are small iron balls packed in the Chinese grenades.

The speed at which the shrapnel or splinters blow up and spread is very high. Once the safety pin of the grenade is pulled out, it lets off the L-shaped safety lever in the hand and within four seconds the bomb detonates.

According to forensic scientists, a cylindrical rod within the grenade acts like a detonator. It sparks, hits the explosive or the gunpowder and as soon as the compounds of nitrates come in contact with the oxygen, it explodes.

Using grenades at congested, crowded places ends up causing more damage, which is why terrorists target market places or buzzing tourist spots, said experts.