Two kids killed in Kashmir blast

SRINAGAR - Two children were killed and three people critically injured when an explosive device the children unsuspectingly carried home burst in the city’s outskirts Sunday evening, police said.

A senior police officer said 13-year-old Bismah and her 15-year-old brother Noor Mohammad were killed on the spot while two other children and a 40-year-old woman were critically injured in Malru village, some 15 km from city centre Lal Chowk.

The injured children have been admitted to Soura Medical Institute while the woman has been admitted to a city hospital.

Police sources said the children had apparently picked up the explosive device from the open fields during the day and carried it home.

Last year, there was a fierce encounter between separatist guerrillas and security forces in Malru in which two foreign terrorists were killed.

The explosive device could have been left in the area during last year’s gun fight, police sources said.