Hiranagar/Jammu | A powerful blast has occurred at a hamlet near the India-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, creating a huge crater in the ground and triggering fear among the locals, officials said on Thursday.

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.

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 incharge 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.