Close shave for major general in Udhampur

A top army officer survived a bid on his life when militants set-off a car bomb explosion near the Northern Command Headquarters in Udhampur on Monday morning. A civilian was killed and four others injured in the incident.

Major General DS Pathania, commandant at command hospital, was passing through when a bomb-fitted parked on the roadside went off causing minor damages to the front portion of his car. The general escaped being hit. “The place where the blast took place is two km away. The blast caused some damage to the front portion of the car. The general is safe and there were no injuries,” said lt col Rajesh Kalia, defence spokesman at Northern Command headquarters

Army sources maintain that it is very difficult to say whether the officer was the target or the car bomb was timed in such that it went off at that point of time. Senior superintendent of police, Udhampur, Surinder Gupta said they are investigating the case.