Rajnath Singh to visit Jammu & Kashmir on Tuesday 

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is slated to visit Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday to review the security situation in the state, specifically in the valley and along the India-Pakistan border, besides interacting with political leaders, officials said on Sunday.

The Minister will attend a high-level meeting with Governor Satya Pal Mailk and senior officials from civil administration, police and security forces and assess the current situation in the state during his day-long visit which comes following the urban local body and the panchayat elections that were boycotted by the two major political parties -- the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He is also expected to meet leaders of political parties and representatives of some civil society groups. Jammu and Kashmir has been under the Governor's rule since June as PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti resigned as Chief Minister following the withdrawal of support by the Bharatiya Janata Party to her government. The state has been facing unrest with incidents of violence perpetrated by terror groups regularly.

Meanwhile five civilians were killed and over a dozen others injured on Sunday when an explosion occurred a gunfight site in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam district, police said. According to the police, despite repeated requests not to visit the gunfight site in Laroo village till it was declared safe, civilians went to the gunfight site where an explosion occurred. Some of the injured civilians have sustained critical injuries, according to doctors in the Kulgam District Hospital. Three militants were killed by the security forces in this gunfight. (IANS)

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