UNCLASSIFIED Suicide Attackers Strike at Kashmiri Peace Bus Wed Apr 6, 2005 09:32 AM ET
By Terry Friel and Sheikh Mushtaq SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Gun-toting Islamic rebels on Wednesday stormed and torched a center sheltering passengers due to travel on a historic bus ride between divided Indian and Pakistani Kashmir, causing dozens of injuries. Terrified people, including women and children, hurled themselves through ground floor windows as fire engulfed the heavily fortified complex in Srinagar, flames leaping high into the air and thick black smoke blanketing the city center. The army said it killed one of the two suicide attackers in the early stages of the raid, but were still hunting the second as night fell over the tense and shuttered city. Officials say dozens of civilians were injured in the attack, but the more than two dozen passengers scheduled to make the journey to Pakistani Kashmir on Thursday's inaugural run -- who were living at the complex because of earlier guerrilla threats -- escaped unharmed. "God! Please don't let anyone else see such a horrible day!" wailed one distraught survivor as he ran away crying. A policeman shot in the arm cried "Please save me! Save me!" to his colleagues as he lay on the street outside, opposite a mosque. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was due to flag off the bus on Thursday morning. His office said he still would. Four militant groups who had pledged to turn the first trans-Kashmir bus in half a century -- seen as an emotional symbol of warming ties between India and Pakistan -- into a coffin, told newspaper offices they had ordered the suicide raid. "I saw two gunmen with AK-47s running from one side of the building to another," Aijaz Ahmed, a bank worker in the complex, told Reuters, after escaping through a window. The terrified man had blood on his shirt, though he was not hurt. Heat from the blaze as the building collapsed could be felt several hundred meters away, driving back hundreds of soldiers, police and journalists. Pakistan immediately condemned the attack. "We express grave sorrow at this very unfortunate incident," Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri told reporters. "This particular thing is really unbelievable because they have committed no crime," he said of the passengers. "All they wanted to do is to meet their loved ones from whom they have been separated." India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since independence over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir and came close to another in 2002. But then Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee kicked off the peace process this month at the same stadium Thursday's bus is due to leave from, offering "the hand of friendship." Wednesday's attack was in one of Srinagar's most protected areas, near the chief minister's official residence and the government radio and television broadcasting offices. (Additional reporting by Y.P Rajesh in SRINAGAR, Surojit Gupta in NEW DELHI and Zeeshan Haider in ISLAMABAD) All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world. ) Reuters 2005 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. Bring education to life by funding a specific classroom project. http://us.click.yahoo.com/FHLuJD/_WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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