Accidental fire from minister's pistol hurts 2 at Jammu airport

Jammu, Mar 3 (UNI) Panic gripped Jammu Airport after an ''accidentally'' fired bullet from the pistol of Jammu and Kashmir Minister hit and wounded two employees of a private carrier today, sources said.

The incident occurred during security checking of Minister of State for Rural Development Javed Mustafa Mir's luggage at the airport at around 1600 hrs, the sources said.

''A pistol was detected in the Minister's luggage by the scan apparatus at the airport,'' the sources said.

Despite the Minister's claim that the pistol was empty, the bullet got fired when the weapon was checked towards the ground.

''The bullet after hitting the ground splintered and hit two Jet Airways employees standing nearby,'' the sources said, asserting that it was not clear who had triggered the pistol.

The wounded Jet employees were identified as Ms Abhilasha and Roop Lal.

No official statement on the incident, either from Jet Airways authorities or police, has been released.

The Minister, who belonged to the People's Democratic Party (PDP), was reportedly leaving for Mumbai.

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