J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

Blasts near CRPF camp, bus stand; 28 hurt
Srinagar, November 14
Two powerful explosions rocked the Kashmir valley today, injuring at least 28 persons. Unidentified militants shot dead one person in his house in the Kokernag area of Anantnag district last night, the police said here.

Firefighters try to extinguish the smouldering wreckage of a car used in a blast outside a security camp in Srinagar on Tuesday. —Reuters photo

Farooq fails to goad Mufti on self-rule draft
Jammu, November 14
The Patron of the National Conference and former Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah's provocation to the PDP leadership to come forward with its document on self-rule, which otherwise he terms as hollow, does not seem to have goaded Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to rush through the exercise of preparing the draft on the idea he has floated for resolving the Kashmir issue.

31 kidnapped by Pak terrorists freed

Blasts near CRPF camp, bus stand; 28 hurt
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, November 14
Two powerful explosions rocked the Kashmir valley today, injuring at least 28 persons. Unidentified militants shot dead one person in his house in the Kokernag area of Anantnag district last night, the police said here.

At least 18 persons were injured in an incident of grenade explosion followed by a car blast outside a camp of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) at about 4.15 pm in the Karan Nagar area. The DIG, Central Kashmir Range, Mr Farooq Ahmad, said the injured included three policemen and two CRPF men. Militants hurled a grenade towards the CRPF Battalion Headquarters and followed it by a car bomb explosion already planted on the spot. They wanted to target more police and CRPF men in the car bomb explosion after lobbing the grenade, police officials said. However, timely action by the security forces prevented much damage, the officials said.

The area was cordoned off and searches were launched to nab those behind the explosions. However, there were no reports of any arrests so far. Damage was also caused to the nearby houses as a result of the impact of the heavy explosions. Those injured have been admitted to the nearby SMHS Hospital, where the condition of two is stated to be critical.

In another incident, 10 persons, including a Major and two of his guards, were injured when militants detonated an IED near the bus stand, Baramula, 65 km north of here, this afternoon. Those injured included six persons who were travelling in a truck that passed by at the time of the explosion. A pedestrian was also injured in the incident. The truck driver and two civilians were among the critically injured admitted to the district hospital at Baramula.

Meanwhile, unidentified militants shot dead Peer Mukhtar Ahmad when they intruded into his house at Sofshali, Kokernag, in Anantnag district last night.

Farooq fails to goad Mufti on self-rule draft
Our Correspondent

Jammu, November 14
The Patron of the National Conference and former Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah's provocation to the PDP leadership to come forward with its document on self-rule, which otherwise he terms as hollow, does not seem to have goaded Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to rush through the exercise of preparing the draft on the idea he has floated for resolving the Kashmir issue.

"We do not worry about what Dr Farooq Abdullah has to say," said Mr Ghulam Hassan Mir, a member of the committee constituted by the PDP for preparing the draft on the self-rule concept.

Mr Mir said today: "We are on the job of preparing the document and Dr Abdullah's false alarm bells do not upset us." He said it might take another month to finalise the draft."We have to discuss it with the Mufti who is away to the United States, where he has gone as head of an unofficial Indian delegation to the UN General Assembly." In reply to a question, he said: "I do not know the exact date when Mufi Sahib will return to Jammu. He may be here within 15 days." 

31 kidnapped by Pak terrorists freed
S.P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

Jammu, November 14
As many as 31 kidnapped youths have been liberated from the clutches of Pakistan-backed terrorists by the security forces in Doda district this year. An engineering student, Khalid Latief Bhat, was rescued today from the 38 days of captivity of terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) from the forests of Sazan Kotal in Doda district.