NEW DELHI: Indian security forces claimed yesterday they had killed five foreign militants during a gunfight in a forested area in the restive region of Kashmir. Forces acting on an intelligence tip off surprised the men allegedly from the Hizbul Mujahideen militant group in Wanghat forest about 50km from the main city of Srinagar, local police chief Shahid Mehraj said.
“The militants were killed in a fierce gunfight by the joint party of Indian army and police. Five AK assault rifles and a large quantity of ammunition were recovered from them,” he said.
Violence in Kashmir has dropped sharply since India and Pakistan started a peace process in 2004 but occasional gunfights are known to erupt between the rebels and Indian security forces.
24 injured as train derails in Karnataka
Bangalore: At least 24 people were injured yesterday when the engine and four coaches of a passenger train derailed near Belgaum in Karnataka after a portion of the rail track was washed away in flash floods, a railway official said. The accident spot is about 620km from Bangalore.
“The incident occurred between Sulebhavi and Suldhal stations when the Miraj-Hubli passenger train was passing through the spot in heavy rain. About 10 metres of the track got dislocated due to flash floods resulting in four bogies and the engine derailing,” South Western Railway spokesman G K Jalan said.
Clarifying that there were no deaths, Jalan said about 20 of the injured passengers have been taken to Belgaum and Gokak for treatment.
Defamation case filed against Digvijay Singh
New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Nitin Gadkari yesterday filed a defamation case against Congress leader Digvijay Singh for dragging his name into alleged irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks.
Gadkari appeared in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Sudesh Kumar and recorded a statement saying he was “not responsible for any coal block allocations to anybody”.
According to the complaint, Singh had named Gadkari in the allocation of coal blocks to a company belonging to BJP Rajya Sabha member Ajay Sancheti, said to be Gadkari’s close associate.
Agencies
