2 children killed in second attack in 12 hours in Indian Kashmir

Srinagar, India, Jan 2 (EFE).- Two minors were killed and five people were wounded Monday as an improvised explosive device detonated in a village in Indian Kashmir, officials said.

The explosion took place in Dangri village in Rajouri district, the same place where four civilians were killed in gunfire by insurgents the previous day, Jammu police chief Mukesh Singh told the media.

Singh said one of the civilians was seriously injured, adding that the security forces had defused a second improvised explosive device.

A source from the hospital confirmed that a six-year-old succumbed to his injuries from the blast, taking the total number of minors killed in the explosion to two.

Officials, who asked not to be named, told EFE that the authorities have increased the deployment of security forces in the area to locate those responsible for Sunday’s shooting.

Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha, condemned the Rajouri incident and called it a “cowardly terror attack.”

“I assure the people that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished,” he said in a statement.

Rajouri district is located near the highly militarized Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border separating India and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.

Indian Kashmir is the scene of frequent clashes between Indian security forces and several insurgent groups seeking to separate from India or become a part of Pakistan.

The region has been witnessing for three decades a separatist armed rebellion – described as a terrorist activity by the government at New Delhi – in which tens of thousands of people have died, mostly civilians.

Kashmir stands divided between India and Pakistan along the LoC, with both sides claiming the entire region, since the partition of the subcontinent following independence from British rule in 1947.

The two countries have fought three major wars and had several minor skirmishes since then over the dispute. EFE

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