Five pedestrians were killed and seven injured after an IED hidden under a mound of snow on the national highway exploded today forenoon near a market teeming with shoppers and office-goers. Angry villagers took to the streets alleging that the police and army knew about the hidden IED but mutely watched it explode. ‘‘There appears to be some kind of a conspiracy that resulted in the tragedy which could have been averted had the police and army acted swiftly.’’ said Fayaz Ahmad, a resident of the town who escaped unhurt. ‘‘An hour before the blast, the police diverted the traffic through the other road after army instructed them to do so. That suggests that army and police knew about the concealed IED. No effort was made to block the road for the movement of civilians.’’ added Ahmad. An army officer speaking to The Indian Express denied that the troops were slow to track down the location of the IED and prevent the tragedy. ‘‘Police had the information about the IED and we too were trying in tandem with police and BSF to locate the mine. It’s a huge town and big market with people coming all the way from Uri and Sopore. We could have stopped the movement if we had the specific information about the location of the IED.’’ said Anil. Four of the dead were buried in the ‘martyrs graveyard’ in the old town as thousands of people attended their last rites shouting slogans. Five of the gravely injured were driven to the city for specialised treatment.
