Four landmines, one mortar shell explode near LoC in J&K's Poonch

Four landmines and a mortar shell exploded near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district without causing any harm to human lives, officials said on Thursday.

The mortar shell buried underground went off when an earth-mover was digging the land at Sagra village in Mankote area on Thursday morning, the officials said. The driver of the excavator escaped unhurt in the explosion that rocked the area.

A police team was rushed to the scene following the explosion to probe the matter. The mortar shell apparently remained unexploded during cross-border shelling, the officials said.

In another incident, four landmines exploded in the Balakote area on Wednesday, they said.

The landmines were activated by a bomb disposal squad after they were found dislocated from the anti-infiltration obstacle system due to recent heavy rain, the officials said.

The blasts did not cause any damage, they said.