Landmine explosion wounds civilian on Kashmir LoC

A civilian was wounded in a landmine blast close to Line of Control (LoC) dividing Kashmir, officials said Wednesday.

The blast took place in forward area of Bagiyal Dara in frontier Poonch district, about 185 km southwest of Srinagar city, summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"A villager was wounded in a mine blast yesterday in Poonch," a police official posted in Poonch said. "The civilian Mohmmad Bashir was in the forward area grazing his cattle, during which he stepped on the mine resulting in its blast."

Reports said Bashir was immediately removed to hospital for treatment.

In Poonch apart from civilians many troopers were also wounded in past while stepping over landmines while patrolling.

LoC is de facto border that divides Kashmir into Indian and Pakistani-controlled parts. The both sides of the cease-fire line is believed to be heavily mined.

During past more than two decades of ongoing armed insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir, many people were killed or left crippled after inadvertently fiddling with the explosives or stepping upon landmines planted blindly in the region, particularly along LoC.

International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), a Geneva based network seeking ban of landmines has been urging both New Delhi and Islamabad to ban the use of landmines and launch comprehensive mine clearance programs.

India and Pakistan are yet to ban landmines and hence fall into the group of 36 countries in the world that are not signatories to the mine ban treaty.

Last week a teenager was killed in a mysterious blast in adjacent Rajouri district while tending his goats.

Reports said the boy had fiddled with some stray explosive device that he had found in the area.

A guerrilla war is going on between militants and Indian troops in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989. The gunfight between the two takes place intermittently.

Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir. Endi