Bomb Blast in Pakistani Kashmir : 3 Dead

Bomber kills 3 soldiers in Pakistani Kashmir

January 06 2010 : A bomb attack killed three security personnel outside an army base in Pakistani-administered Kashmir close to the line separating it from Indian territory on Wednesday, police said.

The attack came one day after Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari visited the area, declaring that regional peace depended on resolving the dispute over Kashmir -- a fault line that has sparked two wars between India and Pakistan.

The bomb exploded outside a barracks in Tarar Khal, 150 kilometres (94 miles) east of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

"It was a bomb blast. It could be a suicide blast, but we are collecting the evidence," senior police official Irfan Masaood Kishvi told AFP by telephone from the nearby town of Pallandri.

"It was outside the army barracks... Three security personnel have been martyred and three wounded. The injured have been taken to the Combined Military Hospital," Kishvi added.

Kashmir was split into two in the bloody aftermath of independence from British rule over the subcontinent in 1947. Nuclear rivals India and Pakistan each control a part of the mountainous land but both claim the region in full.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in a nearly 20-year revolt in Indian Kashmir, where Muslim militants have fought against New Delhi's rule, but bomb attacks are rare in the Pakistani administered zone.

Raja Farooq Haider, the elected leader of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, confirmed a bomb exploded in an army area of Tara Khal, a small village with a local population of around 6,500 people.

"The bomb blast took place in an army area. The authorities are on site. We have taken the injured to the nearby Rawala Kot hospital," he told Pakistan's private television channel Geo.

"Police and experts are investigating whether it was a suicide blast or a planted bomb," he added. Militant attacks across Pakistan have killed more than 2,890 people since July 2007.

Washington is putting pressure on Pakistan to do more to fight Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants along its western border with Afghanistan, but the Pakistani military establishment continues to eye India as the primary threat to the country.

"The whole focus of the world is on Pakistan. Regional peace is linked with the resolution of the Kashmir dispute and peace can only come if the issue is resolved," Zardari said in Kashmir on Tuesday.

India has accused Pakistan of arming and funding militants waging the insurgency in Kashmir, although Islamabad denies the charges.

On December 27, a suicide bombing outside a Shiite Muslim mosque in Muzaffarabad killed seven people on the eve of Ashura, the holiest day in the Shiite calendar that commemorates the seventh-century killing of Imam Hussein.

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JAC leaders arrested for detaining trains.

The Railway police along with local police today arrested the leaders of Joint Action Committee (JAC) for detaining three Express trains at Vijayawada Railway Station for more than one hour.

The JAC comprising students and political leaders of 13 districts of Andhra and Rayalaseema Regions had given a call for ''Rail Roko'' on Saturday last to exert pressure on the Centre for United Andhra Pradesh, coinciding with the eight-party meeting convened by Union Home Minister P Chidamabaram on the Telangana issue in New Delhi today.

The JAC leaders, including its Chairman and former Congress minister Mandali Buddha Prasad, Vijayawada Congress legislator Malladi Vishnu, Mylavaram TDP legislator Devineni Umamaheswara Rao and party MLC Rajender Prasad, APCC Secretary K Shivaji, Krishna district JAC Students Wing Convenor D Avinesh and others squatted on the tracks at therailway station and stopped the Thiruvananthapuram-New Delhi Kerala Express, Howrah-Chennai Coromandel Express and Howrah-Hyderabad East Coast Express.

Later, the police forcibly vacated the JAC leaders from the tracks and shifted them to Railway Stadium, creating a mild tension for some time. However, they were released later. Due to 'Rail Roko' the occupancy ratio (OC) was very poor with only 12 per cent recorded,railway sources said.

The agitators also halted Vijayawada-Narsapur and Narsapur-Vijayawada Passenger at Mandavali and Kaikaluru Railway stations in Krishna district. The Yeswanthapur and Simadhri Express trains were also detained by the agitators at Nuzvid railway station, reports said. The Gudivada-Vijayawada Passenger was also stopped by the agitators at Gudivada railway station in support of the unified State.

As many as 88 passenger trains including MMTS trains were suspended by the South Central Railway (SCR) last night in view of the 'Rail Roko' in Andhra, Rayalaseema and Telangana regions. At Jaggayyapet in this district, the agitators obstructed the vehicular traffic at Garikipadu check post resulting the vehicles bound to Hyderabad coming to a grinding halt.

Telangana protesters arrested.

Breaching prohibitory orders outside Home Ministry, a large number of pro and anti-Telangana protesters gathered and raised slogans as a crucial meeting on the separate state was in progress here today.

The North Block area, where any gathering is prohibited under section 144 of CrPC, became the hub of activity as protesters caught the security forces off-guard. Supporters belonging to both the groups assembled suddenly and started raising slogans, displaying placards.

However, the situation was brought under control as authorities rushed in more force to defuse the situation and arrested all of them.

Train to Andhra? Please carry extra food

Carry lots of food and water if you are taking a train passing through Andhra Pradesh. This is what authorities are saying in view of the unending rail blockades in the state. Transport services across Andhra Pradesh have again been hit as supporters and opponents of a separate Telangana state stopped trains and buses.

Dozens of trains have been halted in Kadapa, Guntur and Krishna districts. These include the Kerala Express and the Macherla Express. Rail blockades have been reported from many railway stations, causing inconvenience to passengers whose stocks of food and water are running out.

In Warangal district, protesters Tuesday stopped the Gorakhpur Express. Three passenger and three express trains were detained at Vikarabad in Ranga Reddy district near here.

The South Central Railway has cancelled 89 trains, including 63 MMTS (multi-modal transport system) and local trains in Hyderabad.

Telangana protests hit rail, road transport in Andhra Pradesh

Transport services across Andhra Pradesh were hit on Tuesday as supporters and opponents of a separate Telangana state stopped trains and buses even as an all-party meeting on the Telangana issue took place in New Delhi.

Railway authorities cancelled 89 trains as a precaution while state-owned Road Transport Corp (RTC) partially suspended bus services. The rail and road blockade in Telangana on one side and the rail blockade in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema on the other coincides with the meeting in the national capital.

Police arrested a large number of protesters, including leaders of political parties and student groups resorting to transport blockades in the three regions. Dozens of trains were stopped by anti-Telangana protesters in Kadapa district of Rayalaseema and in Guntur and Krishna districts of coastal Andhra.