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6 BSF personnel killed in
J&K landmine attacks

A senior police officer in Srinagar said four BSF personnel of the 34 battalion, including an assistant commandant, were killed and three others wounded when their bulletproof vehicle hit a landmine at village Kahlil near Tral in southern Pulwama district.

While three persons died on the spot, Assistant Commandant Dinesh Kumar succumbed to his injuries at the Army Base Hospital in Srinagar. Three other soldiers are recovering from their injuries.

Senior BSF and police officers from Tral rushed to the spot. Sources said the area was immediately encircled and searches mounted.

In another incident, sources said an army bus carrying officials and soldiers to Jammu from Srinagar was destroyed in a landmine explosion at Chechkoot village near Awantipore on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway on Thursday morning.

Two soldiers died on the spot while six others were seriously wounded. The sources said the injured were rushed to the army hospital and condition of three is stated to be serious.

Army and police officers reached the spot immediately and the area was encircled.

Traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu highway was disrupted for several hours following the explosion.

The blasts follow Tuesday's suicide attack on the Srinagar airport in which eleven persons including six militants, three CRPF members and two civilians were killed.

The bodies of the six Lashkar militants were buried at Humhama. Hundreds of people joined the funeral shouting anti-India and pro-freedom slogans.

A Lashkar-e-Tayiba spokesman in Srinagar Abu Osama said the commander of the suicide squad whom the outfit spokesman identified as Salah-Ud-Din alias Abu Ubaid Tariq escaped after the attack. Osama said Tariq was in touch with the outfit.

In a related development, the body of the driver of the State Forest Corporation jeep, which was used by the militants in the airport attack, was found near Ganderbal in the city outskirts.

Kashmir range police chief Dr Ashok Bhan had on Wednesday confirmed the arrest of the driver Bilal Ahmed and another SFC official Muhammah Yusuf Gabroo.

Sources said the driver allegedly died in the custody of the state police.

Police handed over the body to relatives on Thursday afternoon. The death triggered protests at Rainawari in the city.

About 8,000 people joined Bilal's funeral procession shouting anti-India, anti-Farooq and pro-freedom slogans.

Meanwhile, life in the entire Kashmir Valley was crippled on Thursday in view of a general strike called by the traders' federation in protest against massive power cuts in the region.

All shops, business establishments were closed and traffic was off the roads. Banks, government offices were also closed.

Consumers in the Kashmir valley receive electricity for barely three hours in a day and that too is erratic.

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Security tightened at all airports
Abdullah threatens attacks on ultras' camps in Pakistan

COMPLETE COVERAGE
Government initiated ceasefire in J&K

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