Tribune News Service

Srinagar, November 12

A soldier was killed and another injured in ceasefire violation by Pakistan troops in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district  during the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. The latest ceasefire breach took place in Keran sector with Pakistani soldiers opening fire at three Indian posts and a civilian area.“Two soldiers were injured. One of them with a splinter injury succumbed to his injuries,” sources said. The slain soldier was identified as Sepoy Harsit Bhaadouria of Thikariya Banswara village in Rajasthan and the injured as Mankamla. “Two houses were partially damaged in the Pakistani shelling in Keran,” a police official told the media.    Defence sources said the Pakistani Army used 120 mm and 82 mm mortars, automatic weapons and small arms to target Indian posts. There have been more than 100 incidents of ceasefire violation by Pakistan along the LoC after the surgical strikes by the Indian Army across the LoC on September 29. At least 12 jawans of the Army and the BSF have been killed during these ceasefire violations.On November 9, a soldier was killed in sniper fire in the Machil sector of Kupwara district. In the same sector on October 28, a soldier was killed and his body mutilated. A militant too was shot. A BSF jawan was killed on the same night.

52 dead in Pak shrine blast, IS claims attack

Karachi, November 12

At least 52 persons, including women and children, were killed and more than 100 others injured today in a suicide bombing at a popular Sufi shrine in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, an attack claimed by the Islamic State terror group.The blast occurred in the remote Hub region in Khuzdar district of the province while devotees were participating in a Sufi dance called “dhamaal” at Dargah Shah Noorani.At least 52 persons were killed and more than 100 have been injured in the blast, rescue officials said.While confirming the death toll, Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said ambulances and rescue teams had rushed to site.The target of the attack was the area where devotees perform ‘dhamaal’. The blast site is situated some 250 km away from Karachi.The blast happened when about 500 to 600 devotees were present at shrine.Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack via Amaq news agency. The Express Tribune quoted police sources as saying that the blast was a suicide attack carried out by a 14-year-old boy.Rescue teams reached the blast site and started shifting the deceased and injured to the hospital. However, rescuers were facing difficulty in accessing the site as the shrine is located in a remote area. The death toll is feared to rise and women and children were among those killed in the blast.“The shrine is located some 250 km from Karachi in the remote mountains of Uthal and our vehicles have been dispatched there to carry out rescue operations and shift the injured to the hospitals,” said Hakeen Lassi, an official of the Edhi Trust Foundation.Local tehsildar Javed Iqbal said security arrangements at the shrine were not proper.“It is sad that although thousands of devotees from Karachi and other parts of the country visit the shrine everyday but there are no medical emergency facilities or ambulances at the site,” he said. — PTI

Killer teenager

• The attack was carried out by a 14-year-old boy while devotees were participating in a Sufi dance called ‘dhamaal’
• This is the third major incident of a bomb going off in Balochistan province since August
• In October, 64 cadets were killed when three terrorists raided a police training centre in Quetta
• In August, nearly 70 persons died in a suicide bomb attack at a civil hospital in Quetta