M A I N   N E W S

Burqa-clad ultras kill cop, son
25 hurt in Kulgam grenade blast

Srinagar, January 19
Three burqa-clad militants today shot dead an officer of the Special Operation Group of the local police and his teenaged son and injured his nephew in Baramula district in north Kashmir, official sources said. In another incident, 25 persons were injured in a blast at Kulgam.

Assistant Sub-Inspector Mushtaq Ahmad and his son Mudasir Mushtaq were killed on the spot and his nephew Rameez Ahmad seriously injured when gunmen wearing veils opened indiscriminate fire after entering his Gund-e-Qaise residence in the Bandipora area around 3.30 pm, they said.

The ultras later fled the scene.

The police, assisted by security forces, has launched a hunt to nab the militants.

The police officer, posted in Srinagar, was on leave, the sources said.

At least 25 persons were injured, five of them critically, in a grenade blast at Kulgam in south Kashmir this afternoon.

Official sources said militants hurled a hand grenade towards security forces at Kulgam near a crowded place. However, the grenade missed the target and exploded on the roadside, causing injuries to 25 persons.

The injured were admitted to different hospitals where the condition of five of them was stated to be very critical.

Targeting a BSF patrol, militants triggered an IED explosion, damaging a vehicle of the security personnel without causing any casualty in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, official sources here said.

Militants detonated an IED planted on the main road at Sharabad in the Tral belt, when BSF personnel were on a routine patrol around 11 a.m., they said.

The armoured vehicle of the BSF was partially damaged in the blast, but the personnel escaped unhurt.

BSF reinforcements were immediately rushed to the scene and a hunt was launched to nab the militants.

Elsewhere, a civilian was injured when BSF personnel opened fire during a search operation at Bemina last night.

Residents alleged Shoukat Ahmad Wani was critically injured in unprovoked firing by BSF personnel. A case has been registered and police is investigating. UNI, PTI