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| Tuesday, 25 May 2004 |
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Security tightened on key Kashmir highway after blast kills 28 SRINAGAR, India, Monday (AFP) Security on the main highway in Indian Kashmir has been tightened after a powerful landmine blast ripped a bus apart and killed 28 Indian soldiers and their relatives, officials said Monday. The blast destroyed the bus and created a crater about two meters (six feet) deep in the road at Lower Munda, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of the Kashmiri summer capital Srinagar on Sunday. Nineteen Border Security Force (BSF) paramilitary soldiers and nine members of their families were killed. Kashmir's leading rebel group Hizbul Mujahedin claimed responsibility for the attack. "We are making stricter arrangements on the highway for the safety of the security forces and civilians," said Khurshid Ganai, the divisional commissioner of the Muslim-dominated Kashmir valley. "We should not be intimidated by these acts," said Ganai, who along with senior police and paramilitary officers visited the scene on Sunday. The 300-kilometer (186-mile) highway connects Srinagar with the restive region's winter capital Jammu, and is the only supply line to the Kashmir valley and the Buddhist dominated Kargil and Leh districts. The road, which zig-zags through the rugged Himalayan mountains and is used by hundreds of civilian and military vehicles every day, has been the main target of Muslim rebels who have been waging an insurgency against Indian rule in the scenic region since in 1989. Indian troops use mine detectors and sniffer dogs daily in their search for mines hidden on the road before allowing military convoys to move. |
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