Teenager injured in suspected landmine blast in Poonch

Jammu, Feb 11: A 16-year-old boy was injured in an explosion believed to have been caused by a rusted landmine that had drifted into a stream in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district on Wednesday, officials said.

Bilal Ahmad, a resident of Banpath village, was loading sand into a tractor at Battar Nallah when the blast occurred around 4.30 pm, they said.

Preliminary investigation suggested that the blast was caused by a landmine that had washed into the water body and got detonated while the boy was working after being hit by the spade, leaving him injured, the officials said.

Locals rushed to the spot immediately after hearing the blast and shifted the injured boy to district hospital for treatment, they said.

Police and other security personnel reached the site soon after the incident and cordoned off the area, the officials said, adding a search operation was launched to check for the presence of any other unexploded devices in and around the nallah.