New Delhi: A powerful bomb went off outside the Delhi High Court at 10.17 am on Wednesday. At least 11 persons are confirmed dead, while more than 85 others are injured.
Category: Terrorism
Around 300 terrorists are waiting across the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) for an opportunity to infiltrate into India, prompting the Army to strengthen its anti-insurgency security grid. The terrorists have been spotted moving in batches from place to place along the LoC, apparently in search of vulnerable spots from where they could infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir, Defence Ministry sources said here today.
The attempt was to push in as many terrorists as possible before the onset of winter when snowfall will make the mountainous terrains impregnable, the sources said. “The next two months are crucial,” they said, expecting a jump in the infiltration attempts.
In the recent times, there have been a number of attempts at infiltration, many times accompanied by firing from across the LoC to provide cover to such bids. Security forces have killed at least 25 terrorists while foiling these infiltration attempts last month and these encounters took place at points along the LoC. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in an address to a conference of state police chiefs on Tuesday, had termed as worrisome secessionists and militant groups in Kashmir making common cause with “outside elements” and noted that infiltration across the LoC was going up.
An Indian soldier collects the remains of a rocket at the site of a blast at Dhoni khurd village in the Wagah sector of the India-Pakistan border, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Amritsar, India, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009. Indian officials said Saturday three rockets fired from Pakistan had landed near the border villages of Dhoni Khurd and Modey in India’s Punjab state. The rockets fired late Friday fell in empty fields and did not cause any damage. Pakistan’s border security forces rejected the contention.
Lashkar-e-Taiba has emerged as the main suspect behind the Friday night’s rocket fire into Indian villages from Pakistan side after Pak Rangers claimed their troops had no role in the incident.
Four rockets had smashed into villages in Punjab, shattering the late night calm as they exploded in the fields and triggered a major scare. The attack had forced BSF — perhaps for the first time — to retaliate with machine gun and mortar fire.
The BSF has lodged a strong protest with Pak Rangers and sounded an alert along the border late Friday night soon after the attack. The attack came the same day BSF deployed its first women contingent along the international border in the Punjab sector.
There was no damage or casualty on the Indian side, BSF inspector-general Himmat Singh said. The 107 mm rockets landed about 2 km inside the Indian side at Modhey, Rattan Kalan, Dalkae and Dhoneya Khurd villages, near Attari.
In July, Pakistani security forces had seized a cache of arms, including 107 mm rockets — the kind used on Friday — from the arrested LeT men at Dera Gazhi Khan.
Following the rocket attack, BSF retaliated with machine guns and mortar shells from Pul Kanjari, Attari. The IG said this was perhaps the first such retaliatory action by BSF in this sector.
The BSF described the projectiles as 107mm rockets with a range of 8 km. The BSF said it didn’t have these kind of rockets.
