Six policemen killed by land mine
A land mine exploded near a political rally in Indian-controlled Kashmir today, killing six police officers and wounding eight other people, police said.
The attack came four days after the first comprehensive talks in years between India and Pakistan on settling their decades-old dispute over Kashmir. The two days of meetings ended on Monday with both sides saying they were committed to finding a solution to the problem.
Today’s explosion came minutes before a ruling Congress party lawmaker, Chowdhary Lal Singh, was due to give a speech at the rally in Sangam Patti village, 160 miles northeast of Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu-Kashmir state, police said.
The blast was on a nearby road and the mine exploded when a convoy of police vehicles passed over it, police said.
The dead included a police deputy superintendent and five constables. Four other officers and four civilians were wounded and taken to a local hospital. Four of them were reported to be in serious condition.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Also today, government soldiers killed three suspected rebels as they slipped into India from Pakistan-held Kashmir in the forested Muthal-Nar area of Kupwara district.
