At least 22 passengers were killed and 10 others wounded when a minibus met with a tragic accident on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway this afternoon.
The continuous snowfall is making the highway clearance operation by the Border Road Organisation difficult.
Mercury continued its free fall in Kashmir division as Leh in Ladakh region recorded the coldest night this winter with a minimum temperature of minus 16.3 degrees Celsius.
Restrictions have been imposed in five police station areas of Srinagar, a police official said.
Social activist Amit Koul, who was part of the delegation, said they have invited Gandhi to their Jagti township along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway and that he is likely to visit the community on his way to Kashmir.
Curfew remained in force in entire Srinagar district and Anantnag town on Saturday to thwart the separatists' plan to stage a two-day sit-in in the city centre even as the death toll in the ongoing unrest climbed to 56 in the Valley with the death of a youth injured in firing.
Judicial magistrate, first class, Banihal, Manmohan Kumar also directed the superintendent of police, Ramban to monitor the investigation in the case and conclude it within a period of three months.
Three persons were killed and 15 others, including eight security men, were injured in clashes in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday afternoon. Police had to open fire to quell a violent mob, which indulged in heavy stone-pelting on police and paramilitary forces in Samba town situated on the Lakhanpur-Srinagar national highway on Monday afternoon, resulting in on the spot death of two persons.
Saturday's batch left in a fleet of 126 vehicles, including 89 buses, under proper escort, they said, adding the motorcade of vehicles have already crossed Batote around 0940 hours and would be stopped at Chanderkote near Ramban as road ahead is blocked.
The tunnel would provide all-weather connectivity between Srinagar and Leh-Ladakh
Operations at the Delhi airport remained normal. However, three flights were returned or diverted to the Delhi airport due to bad weather in Chandigarh, Varanasi and Lucknow on Tuesday night.
The work of reconstruction in the flood-ravaged Kashmir could get delayed by at least 6 months due to the mass exodus of migrant labour force in the wake of the natural calamity that hit the valley causing huge damage to infrastructure -- both public as well as private.
In one of the biggest such seizures in recent times, security forces unearthed a huge arms haul, including 60 kg of RDX, nine assault rifles and 11 pistols, at a house in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, police said.
Four children died overnight at the G B Pant Hospital in Kashmir, taking the death toll at Kashmir's only paediatric hospital to 363 this year.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's "make-up kit" remark on Friday led to a protest by state's women panchayat members, who termed the statement as an "insult" to women.
Kashmir valley continued to remain cut-off from rest of the country for the second consequetive day, running in view of the incessant snowfall that has frozen normal life across the valley. Mukhtar Ahmad reports.
Several avalanches and landslides hit the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway on Friday even as the death toll in the series of snow slides that have hit Jammu and Kashmir crossed 20 with the recovery of the bodies of four soldiers.
Though the Border Roads Organisation has stepped up efforts to clear the arterial road of snow and landslides, their efforts were hampered by fresh snowing around the Jawahar tunnel, sources said.
Power supply has been restored to several areas in Kashmir valley, which had plunged into darkness because of collapse of the power infrastructure due to heavy snowfall.
'It was felt that the counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist grid is intact in the UT and these additional units that were sent in last year can be de-inducted giving them the much required rest, recuperation and training'
Davinder Singh was being treated at par with the terrorists and jointly interrogated by all security agencies. He was ferrying the terrorists in a car. One of the arrested terrorists is Naveed, a former police constable who deserted the force in 2017 to join the Hizbul Mujahideen.
The 13,500-page chargesheet names Masood Azhar, his brothers -- Abdul Rauf and Ammar Alvi -- and his nephew Mohammed Umer Farooq, who had infiltrated into India in 2018 and was subsequently killed in one of the encounters in South Kashmir.
"One BRO personnel from the team is still missing," the sources added.
With floods rendering the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway inoperational for 12 consecutive days on Monday, Valley residents are facing an acute shortage of essential commodities even as people in some areas of north and south Kashmir accused the administration of concentrating only on Srinagar city.
The yatra was suspended for three hours as explosives experts removed the IED and then checked the entire area all over again, official sources said.
The foot march started as per schedule around 7 am from Hiranagar near the International Border along the Jammu-Pathankot highway which was sealed by police and other security forces.
The Manali-Leh National Highway-3 was blocked after heavy rainfall triggered landslide in Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district on Friday.
The death toll due to the cold wave sweeping across north India rose to 157 even as its intensity abated slightly on Tuesday in parts of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. The 300-km Jammu-Srinagar national highway, the only road linking Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, reopened after being closed for two days due to heavy snowfall. Severe cold conditions claimed 37 more lives since Monday night with Uttar Pradesh alone accounting for 31 deaths.
One of the women later succumbed to injuries in the hospital.
Several countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Israel Canada and Singapore, have asked their citizens to exercise caution while travelling to the Northeast India which has witnessed violent protests against the amended citizenship act.
Army said after the Pulwama terror attack the security forces launched an offensive against the JeM.
Fresh clashes broke out in curfew-bound Kashmir Valley on Saturday in which 30 persons, including 15 security personnel were injured, as protests against the Ramban killings on Thursday continued in Jammu and Kashmir.
Abdullah said he joined the yatra as he was more concerned about the image of the country.
The deceased received one gun shot and his body was taken to the hospital for post-mortem.
"We have identified the terrorists behind the attack. They are from the Lashkar, led by a Pakistani terrorist named Saifullah. We are on the job and they will be neutralised soon," Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir Zone Vijay Kumar said.
China on Thursday voiced its opposition to India's reported plans to hold the next year's meeting of G-20 leaders in Jammu and Kashmir.
The snowfall has prompted authorities to shut down the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway and schools and colleges are also shut.
Singh, who was decorated with President Police Medal about four months ago, continued to be grilled by a team of police and intelligence investigators.
'The wave of terrorism is over in Kashmir. Local people do not support it.'
Intense cold conditions prevailed in parts of north India on Sunday as the mercury plummeted to minus 12.6 degrees Celsius in Leh, while the Kashmir valley braced for possible snowfall over two days from Monday
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