M A I N   N E W S

3 killed in train blast

JAMMU, Feb 10 (PTI, UNI) — At least three persons were killed and 13 were injured when a powerful bomb blast ripped through an air-conditioned compartment of Jammu-Sealdah Express near Sapwal, 35 km from here, tonight.

The blast was set off by explosives planted on the tracks when the Sealdah-bound train was passing through the Devik Bridge at 8 p.m., barely an hour after it had left Jammu station, official sources here said.

The explosion damaged the bogie leaving three dead on the spot and 13 wounded, four of them critically, they said.

The injured were admitted to Jammu Medical College.

The engine of the train and 10 bogies were derailed due to the blast minutes before the train was to reach Samba railway station.

Inclement weather hampered relief operations, a Northern Railway spokesperson said in Delhi.

A special relief train headed for the site to transport the stranded passengers, she said, adding that a medical train had already been rushed from Pathankot.

Rail traffic on the Bijaypur-Samba section was affected following the blast.

The first information about the blast was given by a train guard through wireless set to the Jammu Division headquarters.

Earlier reports, quoting official sources in Gurdaspur, had said 10 persons were killed and nearly 100 injured.

SRINAGAR: Unidentified gunmen shot dead six persons, including three girls, and injured three women in tow separate incidents of firing in the Pattan area of Baramula district last night.

Tension gripped the Pattan township, 27 km north of here today when a large number of people held protest demonstration against the killings of three persons. The demonstrators alleged that security forces and the police were involved in the retaliatory killing of three persons including two male members and a seven-year-old girl at Warpora village. Three others including an SPO (surrendered militant) and his two daughters had been killed by unidentified gunmen at Palpora village prior to their attack in Warpora village nearby.

Senior civil and police officers visited the area and reviewed the situation arising out of the killings of six persons in two adjacent villages of Palpora and Warpora near Pattan. The police and security forces have launched hunt for the culprits, the police spokesman said.

The agitated villagers, who gathered in large numbers held protest demonstrations at Pattan, the highway township in Baramula district. One person was injured in police firing when the police fired to quell the mob, reports reaching here said.

According to a police spokesman here this evening militants intruded into the house of Ghulam Mohammad Reshi (SPO) at Palpora Pattan and fired indiscriminately on the inmates, causing injuries to Reshi and his two daughters, Posha and Parveza. They were shifted to hospital, where they succumbed to their injuries, the spokesman said. He added, after committing this crime, militants intruded into the house of Assadullah War at Warpora village and fired indiscriminately on the inmates, killing Assadullah War, Javed Ahmad Bhat and Fancy, seven-year-old daughter of Nazir Ahmad War on the spot. Three women were also injured in the firing, the police said.