MUZAFFARABAD, Jan 6: A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a military installation in a southern district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday morning, killing four soldiers and injuring 11 others.
According to officials, the attack took place at 6.58am outside a military barrack, also called army’s human resource development centre, in Tararkhel town of Sudhnoti district. The area is home to a basic healthcare centre for soldiers and civilians.
The barrack has not been fenced because of its proximity to a track used by area residents for easy access to the town.
“It was a suicide attack. The bomber blew himself up when he saw soldiers coming out of the barrack,” Inspector General of Police Javed Iqbal told Dawn. Half of the wooden barrack was destroyed.
Three soldiers died on the spot and 11 others suffered injuries. They were taken to the Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan Hospital in Rawalakot, Poonch district, the IG said.
However, AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider said that four soldiers had lost their lives. Five of the injured soldiers were later shifted to Islamabad.
Sudhnoti SP Irfan Masood Kashfi told Dawn that limbs and skull of the bomber had been found.
Talking to journalists during a visit to the under-construction Naluchi Bridge in Muzaffarabad, Prime Minister Haider condemned the blast and said it had been carried out by forces inimical to Pakistan. Foreign hands were involved in all recent terrorist attacks in the region, he added.
He said that terrorists were coming from the country’s western borders.http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/four-soldiers-die-in-ajk-suicide-blast-710
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