Posted on 03/14/2003 9:37:55 AM PST by swarthyguy
RAJOURI, Mar 13: Two persons were killed and 33 others were injured in a powerful explosion inside a passenger bus at the Bus Stand here this morning. Subsequent clashes between police and the youths in which the cops opened firing and teargas led to injuries to 10 more persons including SHO Rajouri Inspector Hamid Choudhary and five cops. Several vehicles were damaged by the mob.
In second explosion in the town during last three days, the militants detonated a high intensity explosive device inside a passenger bus No. 4585 JK02D at 1050 hours, minutes before the bus was scheduled to leave the Bus Stand for Jammu. Only three persons were sitting in the bus when the bomb went off with a deafening sound sending the bus in flames.
Five buses parked near the blasted bus were also hit with splinters of the explosion. Two persons, sitting inside the bus, including a man and his six year old daughter were killed on spot in the blast while 33 others, who were standing near the bus or were sitting in the surrounding buses were injured, official sources said. Dead persons were identified as Mushtaq Ahmed, 32, son of Sain and his six year old daughter Bassi, the residents of Sungri, Udhampur.
As panic gripped Bus Stand after the blast, a large number of youths gathered there and subjected a police party led by SHO Inspector Hamid Choudhary to heavy stone pelting. In the melee, some miscreants hit the SHO with a lathi on his head rendering him unconscious. SHO’s body-guard was also thrashed by the mob.
As mob went on rampage and the bus operators started removing their vehicles from Bus Stand, the traffic was choked at Sher-i-Kashmir bridge, delaying arrival of Fire Brigades and police vehicles on the spot. Mob, however, pelted stones on a policy Gypsy, a Fire Brigade, an ambulance and some private vehicles, causing them extensive damage.
Protesters then marched towards a police post in Rajouri town and attacked it with stones, bricks and lathis. As the agitationists refused to return, the police personnel resorted to firing. A youth Anil Kumar Gupta son of Dharamvir Gupta R/o Rajouri was injured in the police firing. Besides, five other youths sustained injuries in lathicharge and teargassing by police.
Besides SHO Rajouri Hamid Choudhary, his body-guard Hardesh Kumar, ASI Fire Brigades Mohd Aslam and five other police personnel were also injured in stone pelting by the mob.
As police was not allowed to move towards the site of explosion, a team of army personnel led by Col Mishra and Col Malhotra reached the spot to take control of the situation. Injured were shifted to the district hospital in Rajouri from where five of them including the injured SHO were airlifted to Jammu and admitted in the Medical College hospital in serious condition.
After examining the site of explosion, the army personnel left the Bus Stand. Sources denied that army was called out in the town to maintain law and order saying police and para-military personnel controlled the situation after initial hiccups.
Sources said the bus had come from Poonch last night and remained stationed outside its owner’s house at Darhali Morh in the night with driver sleeping inside. The bus came to Rajouri bus stand at 0730 hours and was scheduled to leave for Jammu at 1115 hours. When the blast took place, only five passengers had got tickets for the bus and, of them, three had taken their seats.
They said the tragedy could have been devastating had the bus left the Bus Stand for Jammu with about 40 to 45 passengers. The bus was completely damaged in the fire.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the explosive device appeared to have been kept in the bus by a saboteur at the Bus Stand itself. The device was kept under a seat from the front door. The device contained mixture of black powder TNT and RDX, which was evident from the fact that the bus caught fire. Generally, the TNT mixture is used for triggering fire, the sources said.
A complete bandh was observed in the town after the blast. Shopkeepers downed their shutters to protest second explosion in the town in three days.
Five seriously injured persons, who were airlifted to Jammu, have been identified as Inspector Hamid Choudhary, Lajja Misri wife of Moti Lal R/o Rajouri, Wazir Hussain son of Faiz Hussain R/o Shahdara Sharief, Ram Pyari wife of Prem Nath R/o Rajouri and Mohd Bashir R/o Behrot.
Injured admitted in the district hospital included Tazim Malik son of Abdul Bashir R/o Darhal, Mohd Mukhtar son of Sain R/o Sungri, Udhampur, Sharafat Ali son of Lal Hussain R/o Behrot, Ishtiyaq Ahmed son of Nek Mohd R/o Chandi Marh, Mohd Sharief son of Mir Mohd R/o Laa, Pawan Kumar son of Jagdish Kumar R/o Mubarakpura, Rajouri, Mohd Akram son of Mohd Sharief R/o Thanna Mandi, Jameela Begum wife of Mohd Yunus R/o Laa, Mohd Ashiq son of Mattu R/o Dandot, Salam Din son of Karam Din, a Fire Brigade employee, Ashiq Hussain son of Nazir Hussain R/o Peeri, Budhal, Koushal Kumar son of Kuldeep Kumar R/o Mubarakpura, Sardar Hussain son of Haider Ali R/o Rajouri, Mohd Khalik son of Mohd Sadiq R/o Darhal, Mohd Farooq son of Mohd Azam R/o Fatehpur, Mohd Kabir son of Abdul Hamid R/o Darhal, Mohd Nasim son of Mohd Tufail R/o Darhal, Mohd Shakoor son of Nizam Din R/o Darhal, Naseera Begum wife of Mohd Amin R/o Rajouri, Ruksar Hussain son of Mohd Khalid R/o Khablan, Mohd Shabir son of Ghulam Hussain R/o Galut, Sheela Wanti wife of Shambu Nath R/o Kraigam and Mohd Showkat son of Mohd Naseeb R/o Kesar Gala.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mufti Mohd Sayeed has expressed grief and shock over the killings and injuries in the blast. He said the militants and their mentors would not achieve anything by committing such senseless acts.
Deputy Commissioner, Rajouri, Manoj Kumar Dwivedi had released Rs one lakh ex-gratia in favour of the kins of blast victims. He also visited the hospital to examine the medicare being provided to the injured.
BJP leader Vibodh Gupta and VHP general secretary Rajiv Gupta have also condemned the blast.
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