Car blast claims 14 lives in Kashmir

Toll may go up as condition of several injured critical; No militant outfit claims responsibility

In a major strike, militants today exploded a car packed with about 40 kg of RDX killing as many as 14 people, including three Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officers, and injuring over 100 others near a CRPF camp at the Pulwama town in south Kashmir.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Shiekh Owais Ahmed said militants detonated the car, laden with about 40 kg of RDX, at around 11.30 am, barely 50 metres from a CRPF camp and just outside a school at Wachbug in Pulwama.

Eleven civilians and three CRPF officers were killed due to splinter injuries and over 100 others were injured, official sources said. The toll might go up as the condition of several of injured was stated to be critical, they said.

Police and defence officials had earlier said the improved explosive device was fitted in a truck but recovery of an engine of a Maruti car some distance away and the lesser extent of damage to the truck suggested otherwise, sources said.

The deceased CRPF officers have been identified as TVR Prasad (inspector), Amba Rao and JDR Kumar (both sub-inspectors). Bodies of the CRPF personnel, who had gone to a bank on some official work, were mutilated beyond recognition, giving rise to the speculation that it might have been a failed suicide attack, officials said.

Three persons were killed in the driver's compartment of a load carrier truck, which was passing past the RDX-laden parked Maruti car, sources said.

Two students were also killed on the spot while four persons died while being shifted to hospitals, they said. The school building, several shops and many parked vehicles were damaged in the blast. Many residents of the area claimed that they had never heard such an explosion during the 16-year-old militancy in the state.

The attack led to massive protests with people taking to streets and pelting stones on passing vehicles. Police stepped in to bring the law and order situation under control by resorting to cane-charging. They used tear gas shells and fired warning shots in air. But that also failed to quell the protesters, who continued to target the police and its vehicles.

Pitched battles were fought between the demonstrators and police, they said adding senior police officials including IGP (Kashmir) Javid Makhdoomi had rush-ed to the town. No militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

The situation in the biggest state-run hospital, SMHS Hospital here, worsened as there was acute shortage of doctors to treat the injured due to junior doctors' strike against pay anomalies, sources said. The attendants of the injured and volunteers raised anti-government slogans as the victims were being given first-aid by senior doctors and para-medics at the hospital.

Meanwhile, stating that the Kashmir problem could be solved in "two weeks" if India and Pakistan show political will, President Pervez Musharraf today expressed optimism that it would be resolved in a "certain timeframe".

"I think it can be resolved in two weeks if there is a will and we discuss the options and reach an agreement. Well, two weeks maybe. I have just said that. The most important thing for the leadership is to have the will to reach a conclusion. I see that at this moment, the leadership does have," he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur when asked if he shared the optimism of some that the Kashmir issue could be settled in a couple of years.

"Therefore," Musharraf said "I am optimistic that it would be resolved in a certain timeframe". Musharraf said he would love to visit Kashmir. "I would love to go there" but he would not make a formal proposal as "the time was not ripe yet," he said.

About Siachen, he said talks were being held between the two countries on withdrawing troops and redeploy them to end the "eyeball to eyeball confrontation".

The Pakistan President expressed the optimism that an agreement would be reached on the issue.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said yesterday the two countries were exploring the possibility of pulling their troops out of the Siachen glacier, the world's highest battlefield and turn it into a "mountain of peace". But Singh ruled out any changes in the "established" boundaries, saying it related to the nation's "honour" and "security".

Musharraf also refused to affirm whether he would step down in 2007 and hand over power to a civilian leader, saying "we will cross the bridge when we come to it."