Author: Mukhtar Ahmad
Publication: Telegraph India
Date: May 22, 2003
URL: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1030522/asp/frontpage/story_1993687.asp
A nun from West Bengal was killed
today when militants attacked a Christian school in Anantnag in the first
such incident in Kashmir.
Sister Kamlesh died when a grenade
exploded near the main entrance of the Saint Lukas Convent School in Nai
Basti in Anantnag town, 50 km from Srinagar.
Sister Mary, another teacher who
also comes from Bengal, was injured in the explosion this evening. Sister
Mary was initially admitted to a local hospital but was later shifted to
Srinagar for better treatment.
Police said the militants hurled
the grenade at the gates of the school when the two women were returning
from a market.
"The grenade was hurled from a lane
and exploded near the school, critically injuring the two school teachers.
We rushed to the spot and shifted the two teachers to the sub- district
hospital here. However, Sister Kamlesh succumbed en route," an officer
of the Anantnag police station said on the phone tonight.
Sources said the area was tense
after the local media carried reports that conversions were being carried
out in the two south Kashmir districts of Anantnag and Pulwama. But no
one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
This is the first time that a Christian-run
school has come under attack in Kashmir after the flare-up of the insurgency.
The attack came as militants singled
out an officer of the Intelligence Bureau and killed him by ambushing a
vehicle in Pulwama this afternoon.
The police said two officers of
the bureau and another employee were travelling in a private vehicle when
militants opened fire, killing one and critically injuring two.
The Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, a pro-Pakistan
militant outfit, claimed responsibility for the attack.
