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Two schoolchildren were killed and five others, including a girl, were injured on Wednesday when militants set off an improvised explosive device in Tekipora in Lolab area of Kupwara district in Kashmir.
Militants detonated the device around 9.40 am (IST) with the intention to target a convoy of army personnel who were moving out from a nearby forest, G M Dar, senior superintendent of police, Kupwara, said.
He said that the army personnel escaped unhurt, but a group of seven students going to school on foot took the brunt of the explosion, and two of them -- Riyaz Ahmad Mir (10) and Hilal Ahmad Dar (11) -- died on the spot.
The other children -- Meema (5), Tariq Khan (13), Tariq Ahmad and Shabir Ahmad (both 14) and Altaf Ahmad (15) -- were injured and shifted to a local hospital, where the condition of the girl was stated to be serious, the police officer said.
The army immediately cordoned off the area to flush out the militants responsible for the incident, he said, adding that the blast was believed to have been triggered with the help of a remote control.
No militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the explosion so far.
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