SRINAGAR, India - Four people, including a policemen, were wounded on Thursday by a powerful blast that occurred along the route of the first inter-Kashmir bus minutes after the vehicle had passed, a report said. The improvised explosive device blew up in a closed shop barely 10 minutes after the bus had crossed the main market of Pattan, 27 kilometres from Srinagar, the Press Trust of India said, citing official sources. | These guys remind me of the Indians attacking the canoe containing Hawkeye in Last of the Mohicans. The first Indian mis-times his jump and falls into the water astern of the canoe. This doesn't deter the other Indians, who each jump in turn and fall further astern, one at a time ... |
Four militant outfits which had earlier threatened passengers against taking the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus, claimed responsibility for the attack. A caller introducing himself as Samir Abdullah, spokesman of the four outfits al-Nasireen, al-Arifeen, Save Kashmir Movement and Farzandan-e-Millat telephoned news organisations saying their members hurled a grenade and followed it by firing on the bus, PTI said. Several shots were also heard after the explosion, the sources said, adding that the firing was probably by security personnel dotting the highway to foil plans by militants to target the vehicle. | *Bang* "Owwwww ... curses, foiled again!" |
Elsewhere, gunfire was reported minutes after the bus crossed Singpora, 17 kilometres outside Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital. Police initially said the bus had come under attack from a shoulder-fired grenade and automatic rifle fire but later said the gunfire may have been a result of "accidental firing" by an armed constable guarding the route to the border. None of the 24 passengers was hurt. |