6 BSF men, schoolgirl killed in J&K blasts

By Our Special Correspondent

SRINAGAR, SEPT. 8. Militants struck in a big way in Jammu and Kashmir today, detonating landmines in three separate places, in which six BSF personnel and a schoolgirl were killed and a dozen others injured. Security forces averted more casualties, when they detected and defused three more mines. An Army man was injured when defusing one of them.

Reports said that a BSF vehicle carrying the Commandant of the 161 battalion, Mr. S.S. Dahia, was blown up by a powerful landmine planted by militants on the Gool-Ramban road in Udhampur district. The officer was on his way to Gool. Reports said that as the bullet-proof vehicle was passing through the village of Dhumkund, militants detonated the mine. The Commandant and his five guards were killed on the spot. Senior police and paramilitary officers rushed to the spot and launched a massive search operation.

The Hizb-ul-Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the blast claiming a heavier toll. Police sources said more mines planted by militants at Amar Cheshma, Samroli and Chenani, were defused by the bomb disposal squad. The Army man was injured while defusing the one at Chenani.

In the second landmine blast, in South Kashmir, militants targeted a State Road Transport Corporation bus, carrying students from a local school on an excursion to Pahalgam. The bus hit the landmine at Paibugh near Mattan. An eight-year-old girl was killed instantaneously in the blast. Thirteen children suffered injuries. The IGP, Kashmir, Dr. Ashok Bhan, said three seriously injured students were shifted to the Srinagar Hospital.

This has been the third blast targeting school children since August 31 in the Kashmir Valley. He called it an act of cowardice.

In the third landmine blast near Arampora on the Baramulla- Kupwara road, atleast seven Army men were injured. Militants also opened fire after the blast, police sources said.

UNI reports:

The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, today expressed shock over the death of the schoolgirl in the landmine blast. He regretted that the militants had not even spared innocent school-goers on a picnic.

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