FATEHGARH SAHIB, MARCH 3: Nine passengers, including a CRPF jawan, were killed and six injured when a powerful bomb, believed to be an improvised explosive device (IED), exploded in a Delhi-bound private bus from Jammu near here early Friday morning, police said.The blast, which ripped the middle and rear portions of the bus while it was moving, took place near Tarkham village on GT Road at 4.15 am when most of the 28 passengers were sleeping.All the deceased were men. While eight of them died on the spot, one succumbed to injuries at PGI hospital in Chandigarh, officials said. An earlier report had said that among the dead was a woman.Punjab Director General of Police Sarbjit Singh told newsmen at the site that the blast was suspected to have been caused by an IED with a timer planted at Jammu and kept in the luggage compartment of the luxury bus.No militant group has so far claimed responsibility for the blast.Most of the victims were from Jammu and Kashmir. Among the injured were four members of a family.The passengers told newsmen that the conductor and driver of the bus fled the scene after the blast.The bus, which had left Jammu at 10 pm Thursday night had brief halts first at Lakhanpur for paying toll tax, at Madhopur on Punjab border for a security check by Punjab police and then a little distance away for dinner, from where it left around midnight.The site of the blast presented a gory look with human limbs, blood and passengers' belongings strewn around.Those identified so far are CRPF jawan Kartar Singh Mohd Nadeem (Delhi), Izaz Ahmed Pale (Pulwama, J&K), Manzur Ahmed Bani (Anantnag, J&K) and Mohd Rajim (Delhi).Six injured have been identified as Mohd Akbar Khan( Srinagar), Jawahar Lal Kala, his wife Veena, uncle Bansi Lal and aunt Durga Devi (all residents of Durga Nagar, Jammu Tawi).
