M A I N   N E W S

Five massacred in Mendhar
More troops sent to Nowshera
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Feb 28 — Five civilians belonging to one community were killed when militants barged into their house in Harni village in Mendhar sector of Poonch last night and opened fire at them.

The police said that three women and a child died on the spot and a man later succumbed to his injuries.

A group of militants had stormed the village having a cluster of houses belonging to the minority community with the aim of carrying out a massacre. However, the police retaliated and forced the militants to escape into the nearby jungles. Additional forces have been sent to nab the militants.

A police party headed by one SHO, Mr Zamrood Khan, had gone to the village to shift the minorities to safer areas. The police party was camping in the village since yesterday morning and was making preparations for the safe migration of families belonging to the minority community when the militants struck.

The SHO along with his police party opened fire, forcing the militants to escape. People belonging to both communities rushed to the scene of the incident and were seen wailing.

Instructions have been given to the police to shift some families to safer places because reports have indicated that the militants may attack soft targets to foment trouble.

Meanwhile, tension has mounted on the LoC in the Poonch and Rajouri sectors following the killing of nine Indian Army soldiers, including one JCO, in a swift attack by Pakistani troops in Nowshera area of Rajouri sector yesterday.

Additional troops have been sent to Nowshera to meet any eventuality. Right from this morning, sector commanders in several areas of Poonch, Rajouri, Uri and Kupwara held meetings with jawans and senior officers for evolving a strategy for hitting back in case the Pakistani troops ventured to launch an armed attack.

Defence Ministry sources said that during the past one week, Pakistani troops have launched unprovoked mortar and artillery fire on the Indian posts and villages in several areas. They said that Nowshera attack had been planned to avenge the killing of 16 Pakistani soldiers in the same area four days ago.

The Indian troops have been put on an alert and directed to retaliate effectively in case Pakistani soldiers attempted to storm any Indian post or village or carried out shelling on the Indian pickets.

Sources said that the Pakistan army had reportedly been directed to foment trouble on the border till the American President, Mr Bill Clinton, completed his trip to Delhi. This was being done to convey to the American President that the Kashmir issue was the main irritant so that Islamabad could secure his intervention or mediation.

State government sources said that during the past fortnight, the rate of infiltration of militants from across the border had again witnessed an upward trend. This was the result of a plan formulated by Pakistani agencies to increase man and machine power within Jammu and Kashmir so that militants were able to kick up subversive violence on a large scale and that too in the plain areas, which included the two state capitals and some towns.

SRINAGAR (PTI, UNI): A BSF personnel was killed and seven were injured when militants triggered a landmine blast in south Kashmir even as a dreaded Hizbul Mujahideen militant was killed in an ambush by ultras while he was being taken by security men to their hideout since Sunday night in Jammu and Kashmir, an official spokesman said on Monday.

Eight BSF personnel were wounded when their vehicle drove over a landmine planted by militants at Lassipora in Pulwama district, the spokesman said, adding that one of them later succumbed to injuries while the condition of two was stated to be serious at a nearby hospital.

A militant, Ghulam Mohammad Reshi, suspected to be behind recent landmine blasts, was killed after being caught in a crossfire between the police and insurgents.

Reshi was leading the security personnel to an arms hideout in Chew-Alur when ultras ambushed the vehicle, killing him. However, no policeman was injured in the ambush.

Meanwhile, life was crippled on Monday due to a bandh call given by Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) unit of the All-Party Kashmir Hurriyat Conference (APKHC) in protest against the killing of 14 persons, at Kotlee near the Line of Control in PoK last week.

An official spokesman said a security force vehicle was blown up when militants detonated a powerful IED on the Lassipora Pulwama road. Nine security personnel were injured, one of whom later died in hospital.