“Eight or nine persons were killed, and most of the injured were women,’’ a police officer in Bhakkar told Reuters after the bomb exploded around midnight. Reuters

Pak bunkers destroyed
Twelve militants shot in Jammu & Kashmir
Tribune News Service and agencies

Jammu, April 26
Twelve Pakistani bunkers were destroyed and an unknown number of Pakistani regulars killed when Indian soldiers opened retaliatory artillery fire on frontier Pakistani positions across the Line of Control (LoC) in the Nowshera sector of Rajouri district on Friday.

Security sources said Pakistani regulars from 10 Corps opened fire from 81 mm mortar guns on Indian positions at Laam, Kalaal, Rumlidhara and Kasalian near the LoC simultaneously targeting forward bunkers and watch-towers at 10.30 a.m. and fired for the next 30 minutes.

In retaliation the Indian troops fired in the same vein and the fiery showdown continued for the next three hours in which six Pakistani bunkers were destroyed and several regulars were reportedly killed, sources said.

Incensed at the Indian retaliation the Pakistani regulars opened fire from heavy calibre artillery guns in a bid to pin down the Indians, but again a befitting reply from the troops resulted in the destruction of another six of their bunkers while some more regulars were killed too, sources added.

Meanwhile, Pakistani Rangers opened heavy fire along the international boundary on Indian positions in the Samba, Ranbir Singh Pura and Akhnoor sectors of Jammu region on Friday.

The Indian troops manning the frontlines also returned fire and intermittent cross-border firings are on at various border out posts along the border.

Meanwhile, two foreign militants were shot dead by the security forces in a fierce encounter at Do Mora village in Rajouri district on Friday.

SRINAGAR: Nine militants were killed in an encounter with the security forces in the border district of Kupwara in North Kashmir on Friday.

The police here said the Army killed nine militants at Now-Bahak forests, Langate in Handwara area of Kupwara district in the wee hours on Friday. Eight AK rifles and a pistol were recovered from the site of the encounter, the police said.

A Pakistani militant, Abu Mawa, was killed in an encounter with the security forces in Kokernag area of Anantnag district in South Kashmir on Friday. One AK rifle, three magazines and 100 rounds were recovered from the site of encounter.

No unilateral pullout: Pervez

Islamabad, April 26
Accusing India of “offensive deployment”, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf ruled out the possibility of unilateral withdrawal of troops from the Indo-Pak border to end the military stand-off and put the onus on New Delhi to de-escalate the situation.

General Musharraf said if the Pakistan military was not alert there were chances of many things happening along the border and the Line of Control.