One more mine blast: Seven killed

Seven trucks were destroyed in the explosion at the range, located 60 km from Suratgarh in the Rajasthan sector. The Army has ordered an inquiry into the incident.

Fire tenders were rushed to the spot from Suratgarh and Bikaner after the Army informed the civilian authorities. But Bikaner collector Nirmal Wadhwani said fire tenders can do little in such cases because ‘‘it takes just 30 seconds for the damage to be done.’’ The injured have been admitted to the Suratgarh military hospital.

The victims have been identified as Havaldar Subhash Singh, Naik Dhara Singh, Naik Balveer Singh, Naik Vijay Shankar Prasad, Naik Ajay Kumar Sharma, Lance Naik Surender Singh and RB Singh.

Over 20 soldiers and civilians were killed in a similar accident while unloading mines from trucks near Amritsar in Punjab during the initial phase of the operation.

‘‘This is a direct result of extensive engagement of the army in internal security duties in Jammu and Kashmir and now in Gujarat. The Army’s training suffers due to their prolonged deployment to counter insurgency,’’ said Lt-Gen (retd) B S Malik, former chief of staff, western command.

‘‘Mines are very unforgiving explosives. A soldier has to be an expert to know how to lay them. Even during training, extensive precautions are taken while laying mines. However, the same is not true of operations. The knowledge of soldiers is scarce and the task extensive. Therefore, the accidents,’’ Malik said.

An internal army report on land mine explosions pointed to the fact that the shelf-life of quite a few had expired but were given a lease of life in view of the operation.

Defence Minister George Fernandes, in his reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on March 6, said that 151 army personnel had been killed in the war-like situation between December and February. According to officials at army headquarters, 50 soldiers were killed in land mine blasts alone until February.

More than 100 soldiers and civilians were injured in the explosions.

Wednesday’s incident is the ‘‘unfortunate fall out’’ of army’s efforts to destroy suspect mines. ‘‘After a series of accidents between December and March, various lots of suspect mines (both anti-tank and anti-personnel) are being singled out for destruction. Unfortunately, in the process we bought seven casualties,’’ Army sources said.