Author: Mujtaba Ali Ahmad, Associated
Press Writer
Publication: Yahoo News
Date: May 23, 2004
URL: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040523/ap_on_re_as/kashmir_attack&cid=516&ncid=716
A bomb struck a bus carrying vacationing
soldiers and their families on Sunday, killing 33 people and wounding 10
in Indian- controlled Kashmir (news - web sites), officials said, just
a day after the new Indian prime minister was sworn in.
The attack by suspected Islamic
separatists, one of the worst in recent history, was a bloody initiation
for newly installed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has pledged to make
the Kashmir crisis and relations with rival Pakistan main priorities of
his minority government.
Singh condemned the attack. It wasn't
clear whether the bombing was timed to coincide with his announcement of
his Cabinet lineup, expected later Sunday.
The attack was "yet another indication
that terrorism continues to pose a grave threat to our nation's integrity
and progress," Singh said in a statement.
"While we continue to seek peaceful
resolutions to all outstanding problems, there can be no compromise on
our solemn resolve to deal with the menace of terrorism with firm determination,"
he said.
The powerful explosion on the road
connecting Srinagar and Jammu in India's Jammu-Kashmir state occurred when
a Border Security Force convoy was passing by, said Neeraj Sharma, a spokesman
for the paramilitary force.
The victims included border forces
and their family members, Sharma said.
About 40 people were on the bus.
Several of the wounded died in hospitals, and by Sunday evening, the fatalities
included 18 soldiers, six women, five male relatives and four children
as authorities revised the death toll.
"The bodies were charred beyond
recognition, so it took time to identify them. It became difficult to even
identify our own soldiers," said K. Srinivasan, the deputy inspector-general
of the BSF in the region.
The remote-controlled bomb was planted
under a small bridge near the village of Lower Munda, 55 miles south of
Srinagar, Jammu-Kashmir's summer capital, Sharma said. As the bomb went
off, the fuel tank of the bus caught fire, he said. Srinivasan blamed the
attack on separatist Islamic guerrillas.
A police officer said a civilian
vehicle also was hit by the blast and three people traveling in it were
wounded.
Military helicopters rushed to the
area to evacuate the victims and traffic was halted on the Jammu-Srinagar
highway - the only road that links Kashmir with the rest of the country.
The Hezb-ul Mujahedeen militant
group claimed responsibility for the attack in telephone calls to some
Indian media outlets, but the unidentified caller did not give any reason
for the attack.
The group is the largest among more
than a dozen Islamic groups which have been fighting security forces in
the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir for the region's independence
or its merger with mostly Muslim Pakistan.
The guerrillas have vowed to continue
their attacks, despite the resumption of talks between India and Pakistan
to resolve their differences over Kashmir - the Himalayan region both claim
in its entirety.
The South Asian nuclear rivals have
fought two wars over Kashmir. India accuses Pakistan of training, arming
and funding the Islamic rebels, a charge denied by Islamabad.
The 14-year insurgency in India's
only Muslim-majority state has claimed more than 65,000 lives.
