[vinnomot] 9 Indian soldiers killed

Sunday, July 20, 2008

[vinnomot] 9 Indian soldiers killed

9 Indian soldiers killed
in Kashmir attack
Agence France-Presse . Srinagar

Nine Indian soldiers were killed and 16 others injured in a landmine blast Saturday in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, the army said.
   The attack was described as the deadliest since India and Pakistan started a peace process in January 2004.
   'We have nine fatalities,' Indian army spokeswoman Neha Goel said, adding that over a dozen others were hurt in the explosion in Narabal on the outskirts of Indian Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar.
   A police officer confirmed nine had died and 16 others were hurt when their bus drove over the mine.
   Pro-Pakistan militant group Hizbul Mujahedin claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to the local Current News Service.
   'We have carried out the blast and killed more than 20 soldiers,' a Hizbul Mujahedin spokesman claimed.
   The soldiers were travelling from Uri, bordering Pakistan-administered Kashmir, to the Indian army's main headquarters in Srinagar.
   The blast ripped through the military bus, turning it sideways, and shattered the windows of six other vehicles, witnesses said. The dead and injured were taken to the Indian army's main hospital in Srinagar.
   Goel said some of the injured were in a 'critical condition.'
   Soldiers and the police later sealed off the area and launched searches to track down any militants.
   The blast took place on a key highway and military supply route connecting Srinagar with the northern districts of Baramulla and Kupwara, areas of heavy army and militant activity and both bordering Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.
   Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan hold the scenic region in part but claim it in full, and have fought two of their three wars over the region.
   Pakistan denies Indian allegations that it was behind a Muslim insurgency directed at New Delhi's rule which broke out in 1989.