Posted on 09/21/2003 9:39:43 PM PDT by JENNIFER_SMITH
The Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) suffered its first terror casualty when its top man in the twin border districts of Rajouri-Poonch was killed in a powerful explosion here today. RAW’s Assistant Commissioner Avinash Chander Dutta, from Mendhar in adjoining Poonch district, was killed along with two passers-by when an improvised explosive device (IED), packed in a video cassette recorder and abandoned near a shop in Moti Bazar, was detonated shortly after noon. At least 27 people were injured in the blast. The IED was detonated after people gathered to examine the abandoned VCR. The two who died with Dutta were brothers Koushal Kumar (22) and Vinod Kumar (33). Six of those seriously injured were taken to the Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu while others were hospitalised in Rajouri town. No militant outfit has so far claimed responsibility for the blast which is the fifth in Moti Bazar area in the last 18 months. The explosion sent shock waves through the town with various organisations including BJP, VHP and Sanatan Dharam Sabha calling a bandh tomorrow. A predominantly Hindu area, it has been a constant target of militants. Official sources said it appeared that the militants plan to engineer a communal divide in the town where Muslims and Hindus have foiled all such attempts in the past. Even today, by the time senior officials reached the scene, people from the two communities had already taken the victims to hospital. Senior police officers blamed today’s explosion to stepped-up infiltration from across the Line of Control. Despite India’s peace initiative, infiltration by militants, especially foreign mercenaries, has considerably increased in Rajouri and Poonch districts in the last few months.
He says that he smells victory in the morning air.
You can hear the winds of war blowing, and see the drizzle of death in the distance.
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