Скачать или смотреть KASHMIR: MINISTER KILLED IN LAND MINE ATTACK

(15 May 2000) Hindi/Nat

A state government minister in Indian-controlled Kashmir and four others were killed on Monday when suspected Islamic militants triggered a land mine.

The mine exploded next to a bulletproof car carrying Power Minister Ghulam Hasan Bhatt near Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir state.

The pro-Pakistan Hezbul-Mujahideen group telephoned The Associated Press office and claimed responsibility for the attack.

A huge crater was all that was left behind following a land mine blast near Doru, 75 kilometers (45 miles) south of Srinagar in Indian Administered Kashmir.

It's believed that militants set off the land mine.

Power Minister Ghulam Hasan Bhatt was killed in the blast.

He was the first state minister to be killed by the militants since the last local elections held in Jammu-Kashmir state in 1996.

The driver and three bodyguards in the car were also killed.

A pro-Pakistan Hezbul-Mujahideen group telephoned The Associated Press office and claimed responsibility for the attack.

Half an hour later, another land mine explosion in nearby Khulhar Qazigund killed two paramilitary soldiers traveling in a jeep.

Police stopped traffic through the Banihal tunnel linking the Kashmir valley with the rest of India following a third explosion.

Grieving relatives of those killed in the blast were inconsolable.

Local villagers turned out in large numbers for the funeral of Ghulam Hasan Bhatt.

His body was displayed before burial.

More than a dozen militant groups are fighting to separate Kashmir from India.

Some groups want the Muslim majority region to join Pakistan.

India accuses Pakistan of training and arming militants since the insurgency began in 1989 while the Pakistan government says its support is limited to diplomatic and moral backing.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars - two of them over Kashmir - since they won independence from Britain in 1947.

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