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| Tuesday,
December 5, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Suicide attack on CRPF
Camp SRINAGAR, Dec 4 — SRINAGAR, Dec 4 (PTI) — In the first suicide attack after ceasefire, militants today stormed a CRPF camp in Anantnag district killing a jawan and injuring three other personnel even as an Army jawan and a civilian were killed in an IED blast in Baramula district. A militant was also killed in the exchange of fire that followed the storming by three militants of the 61 battalion CRPF camp located in a defunct cinema hall at Ashajipora, about 60 km from here, official sources said. The militants, who came in a vehicle, lobbed several grenades and fired indiscriminately on the camp guards at around 5 p.m. they said. A fierce face-to-face encounter was triggered which left a militant and a CRPF jawan dead, they said, adding that three CRPF personnel, including two officers, were injured in the shootout which lasted for more than an hour. Reinforcements were summoned immediately after the attack and a search launched to track down two other militants. No militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the police suspect Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Toiba outfit to be behind the incident. An Army jawan, Lance Naik Jai Chandran of 161 field regiment, was killed and 20 others were injured when an Army convoy on its way to Uri from Baramula ran over an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by militants at Khanpora near the Uri bus stand in Baramula district this afternoon, an official spokesman said. An Army Gypsy was blown up while two other vehicles escorting it were slightly damaged in the blast, he said. He said four civilians were also injured in the blast which damaged five private passenger buses and a scooter parked nearby. One of the injured civilians, junior engineer Akeel Ahmad Sheikh succumbed to his wounds. The blast was followed by firing by the security forces in self-defence, official sources said. Pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideen outfit claimed responsibility for the attack. Today’s explosion was the second major attack carried out by Hizbul Mujahideen on the Army since the Ramzan ceasefire came into effect in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday last.  |
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Ceasefire can be extended: PM NEW DELHI, Dec 4 — Terming the Islamabad’s offer of restraint along the Line of Control (LoC) positive, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today hinted that the ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir could be extended beyond Ramzan with Pakistan’s cooperation. Talking to newspersons at the reception hosted by the Chief of Naval staff, Admiral Sushil Kumar, at his residence on the occasion of Navy Day, Mr Vajpayee said though Pakistan’s reaction to India’s ceasefire offer was good, it was not sufficient. To a question on what Pakistan should do now, the Prime Minister said “they know what has to be done. Cross-border terrorism and violence has to stop. They have to adopt a friendly attitude”. The government is likely to make a detailed statement on the recent developments in Jammu and Kashmir tomorrow in Parliament. The statement is likely to welcome Islamabad’s limited statement on India’s offer of ceasefire and is expected to go beyond semantics. ISLAMABAD: The Hizbul Mujahideen has said here that it will continue guerrilla attacks on the Indian Army unless India accepts three conditions set by the group. Hizbul Mujahideen spokesman Saleem Hashmi was commenting on Pakistan’s announcement on Saturday of “maximum restraint” along the Line of Control. The conditions were the inclusion of Pakistan in tripartite talks, reduction of Indian troop presence in the valley and the release of Kashmiri leaders. Hashmi was unhappy about the ‘hasty’ welcome accorded to the ceasefire announcement by the APHC and recalled that when the Hizb had announced one in September, it was subjected to a storm of criticism by the Hurriyat. 40 J&K cops killed in mishap JAMMU, Dec 4 — The state police today suffered worst ever tragedy when its 25 (40 according to PTI) officials were killed and 15 others were missing when a bus in which they were travelling rolled down a deep slope near Ramsu on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway. The police said the bus was coming from Srinagar and was bound for Jammu. The bus belonged to the state police. Police teams were rushed to the spot to carry out rescue operations. All 25 were killed on the spot. |
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