Blast kills 5 in Indian Kashmir
A bomb blast in Indian Kashmir killed five people and injured seven, as the troubled Muslim-majority region braced for the second stage of general elections, police said yesterday.
The attack occurred in southern Poonch district Tuesday evening near a pick-up truck carrying civilians and village defence committee (VDC) members, a police spokesman said.
"Five people, including three VDC members, were killed in the explosion and seven others were seriously hurt," a police spokesman said.
The committees were set up in the mid-1990s by the government to protect remote and inaccessible villages from attacks by Muslim militants.
The committee members, who are armed and funded by the government, have in the past been killed in rebel gun and grenade attacks.
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