recently made known DELHI, April 22...

recently made known DELHI, April 22 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING DEATH TOLLS)

At least six the community were killed and 10 injured Tuesday when suspected Muslim militants triggered a land mine blast in the Pulwama District of India's troubl Jammu and Kashmir State.

The blast originates barely two days after Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee made a visit to Jammu and Kashmir with the promise of bringing peace and normalcy to the state that has been racked by way of violence for more than a decade.

While the powerful mine was targeted at security personnel it killed civilians in the Tral area of Pulwama around 8 a.m., a Pres Trust of India (PTI) report quoting official sources said.

The explosives planted in a less degree than a stone wall along the road were said to have been meant to kill paramilitary personnel of the Border Security Force (BSF) who patrol the area.

The victims had gathered near the explosion site to barter milk, PTI said.

BSF personnel based clog by rushed the injured to hospital in Srinagar, the state's summer capital.

No arrange has so far claimed responsibility for the blast.

About sum of two units hours later, in another incident, nine BSF personnel were harmed when their vehicle was fatigued up on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway in the Anantnag District. The accompany was on its way to Jammu, the winter capital, from Srinagar.

No clump has claimed responsibility for the secondary incident either.

Meanwhile, the Indian army killed 14 clan it said were foreign mercenaries in the border area around Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir, PTI said.

The security forces had launched a massive pursue for Pakistani militants operating in forests in the district after receiving information about the whereabouts.

Around 72 militants have been killed in the last three days in an intensified antimilitancy operation launched by means of the security forces.

Violence has refugeed the Kashmir and Jammu since late 1989 leaving more than 30000 dead and centurys of thousands wounded.

India accuses Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism in the state, the no other than Muslim-majority state in India, unless Pakistan denies lending anything on the other hand moral and diplomatic support to the separatists.

Dialogue between the pair neighbors has been stalled for more than brace years, with New Delhi insisting it will talk single after Islamabad puts an period to cross-border terrorism, but the sides have been talking of peace since Vajpayee's late offer of friendship during his Kashmir visit.

The couple nuclear rivals have fought sum of two units of their three wars through Kashmir since independence from Britain in 1947

A recently made known state government that came to power in October last year has been trying to bring the state back to normalcy and Vajpayee's promise to bring forward Kashmir on the path to growth and prosperity has raised any hope of an end to the violence.

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