Police say car blast kills 1, wounds 23 in Kashmir
Mar 22, 2012, 3:03 PM
SRINAGAR, India (AP) – A bomb exploded Thursday in a car outside the main city of Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing the driver and wounding at least 23 other people in what police said may have been an accident involving suspected rebels.
Authorities believe a rebel was transporting the bomb when it went off accidentally in Bijbehara town, some 28 miles (45 kilometers) south of Srinagar, police officer Ramesh Jalla said.
The driver was killed in the blast, which occurred on a busy road. Three paramilitary soldiers guarding the road were among at least 23 people wounded. Nine were taken to a special hospital in Srinagar for treatment of multiple injuries. One victim was in critical condition.
“It seems the militant was carrying the bomb to plant it somewhere to target security forces,” he said, noting the car had just passed a police station before it exploded.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.
Separately, Indian troops engaged suspected rebels in a gunbattle for several hours and killed at least one of them in Pattan, a town about 17 miles (27 kilometers) west of Srinagar, police said in a statement.
While militants have been fighting since 1989 against Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan territory, violent attacks have largely been suppressed by Indian forces. In recent years, anti-Indian protest has mostly been expressed through street demonstrations marked by youths hurling stones.
More than 68,000 people have died in the last two decades of conflict and by subsequent Indian crackdowns.
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