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J&K power minister killed in landmine blast

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

Jammu and Kashmir Minister of State for Power Ghulam Hassan Bhat was killed along with four others, including two of his bodyguards, at Village Chamran Mandipora in the southern Anantnag district this morning.

Bhat (45) is the first serving minister of the state to be killed by extremists in the last 11 years of separatist violence in the Kashmir valley.

A senior police officer told rediff.com that Bhat left his home in Dooru this morning under tight security. But after travelling a short distance, his bulletproof car hit a powerful landmine at Village Chamran on the Dooru-Qazigund road, 70km from Srinagar, in south Kashmir.

The minister was on his way to Srinagar to attend office. Witnesses said the vehicle was blown apart, killing the minister and the four others travelling with him.

The bodies, police sources said, were mutilated beyond recognition, identifiable only by shreds of their clothing. The others killed were bodyguards Ghulam Qadir and Farooq Ahmad, local National Conference politician Ghulam Mohammad Wani and the minister's driver Rajeev.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (south Kashmir) Javed Ahmed Mukhdoomi and Anantnag district police chief Muneer Ahmad Khan were the first to reach the spot. Kashmir range police chief Ashok Bhan also rushed to Anantnag from Srinagar. The area was cordoned off and searches were mounted.

A spokesman of the militant Hizbul Mujahideen later telephoned local journalists in Srinagar to claim responsibility for the blast.

Ghulam Bhat was made a minister just two months ago. He had been elected to the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly from the Dooru Shahabad constituency in 1996.

His family was flown to Srinagar from Jammu, where they live. His wife and two children were later escorted to Dooru for the funeral.

As news of the killing reached the Srinagar civil secretariat, Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah summoned Chief Secretary Ashok Jaitly and ordered all state government offices closed as a mark of respect for the minister.

Abdullah himself later left for Anantnag to visit the family, accompanied by senior state police and civil officials.

Abdullah and Governor Girish Saxena strongly condemned Bhat's killing. A high-level meeting was convened immediately after the blast and Director General of Police Gurbachan Jagat asked for a review of ministerial security as also of the security provided to top officials.

Meanwhile, two Border Security Force personnel were killed in a powerful explosion at Village Kulhar in Dooru near Mandipore, near where Bhat and his team were killed.

A vehicle of the 199 battalion hit a landmine, setting off the explosion. The two troopers died on the spot.

In another incident, seven policemen were critically wounded in another powerful landmine explosion at Nowgam Banihal on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway this afternoon. The injured policemen were airlifted to hospital.

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