Five of family killed in Jammu blast

Jammu, May 17 (UNI) Five members of a family, including three children and a woman, were killed in a blast at Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir today, officials sources said.

They said, the blast took place at village Morha Halla in Neel area of tehsil Banihal in the district and it was yet to ascertain whether it was a mine blast or a grenade was lobbed inside the house.

''Three people were killed on the spot while two critically injured were immediately rushed to the nearby hospital, where they succumbed later,'' Mr Jitender Mishra, Tehsildar, Banihal told UNI.

All the deceased were the family members of a retired headmaster Abdul Rehman Sohail, who had already lost his younger brother and son at the hands of militants.

''The elimination of the entire family of Master Rehman could be a planned conspiracy, which cannot be ruled out,'' the sources said.

However, the deceased members have been identified as Master Rehman's son Bashir (35), daughter Rabeena 22, grandsons Saddam Hussain (11) and Babar (5).

''Master Rehman had lost his another son Tariq in the 1998 militancy attack and brother in 2007 blast in Doda district,'' sources said.

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