44 Indian soldiers killed in Occupied Kashmir attack
The incident took place when a car laden with explosives hit a Central Reserve Police Force bus.
SRINAGAR (Web Desk) - In occupied Kashmir, in a major incident, at least 44 Indian soldiers were killed and many injured in a bomb blast on Srinagar-Jammu highway in Awantipora area of Pulwama district on Thursday, the Kashmir Media Service reported.
The incident took place when a car laden with explosives hit a Central Reserve Police Force bus triggering off intensive blasts. 44 CRPF men were killed and several others seriously wounded were shifted to Indian army’s 92 base hospital at Badami Bagh in Srinagar. The traffic was suspended on the highway following the blast. Indian troops cordoned off the entire area and launched search operation.
Senior resistance leaders, Syed Ali Gilani and the Chairman of Hurriyat forum, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in their separate statements issued in Srinagar expressed serious concern over the killing of a teenage boy and injuries to 28 students in Kupwara and Pulwama districts in mysterious blasts. Gilani termed the occurrence of back-to-back blasts as a well thought-out conspiracy against the freedom struggle. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Mohammad Yasin Malik, the Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, and Hurriyat leader Mukhtar Ahmad Waza, today, visited SMHS hospital in Srinagar to enquire about the health condition of the injured students.
Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir Chairman, Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai in a statement issued in Srinagar said the Indian establishment was hell-bent upon eroding the internationally recognized disputed status of the territory by fiddling with Article 35A and Article 370 of the Indian constitution. He urged the Indian Supreme Court to dismiss the petitions challenging these Articles.
Indian police arrested a prominent Hurriyat activist, Muhammad Akram Najar, during a night raid at Kralgund in Handwara area of Kupwara district.
APHC leader Mir Shahid Saleem speaking at a seminar in Jammu described the granting of the divisional status to Ladakh as a part of larger conspiracy to pave the way for the balkanization of the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir.
An Indian soldier committed suicide by shooting himself with his service rifle during guard duty at an army camp near Panama Chowk in Jammu in Jammu city. This incident raised the number of such deaths amongst the Indian troops and police personnel to 422 in occupied Kashmir since January 2007.
Kashmiri students undergoing a training programme in Raipur area of Indian state, Chhattisgarh, were attacked by Hindu extremists, resulting in injuries to at least four of them.
