11 unexploded shells defused in Ladakh

Eleven unexploded shells were defused by the army's bomb disposal squad in a forward village in Kargil district of Ladakh, officials said on Saturday.

The unit led by the Sappers of Forever in Operations division detected the ordnance during a sanitising drive in Kurbathang area, officials said.

The drive was conducted in close coordination with Tehsildar, Kargil, and Sarpanch, Pashkum, and the unexploded ordnance was safely defused by the bomb disposal squad, they said.

Earlier in April, the Sappers of Forever in Operations division had destroyed seven explosives found near the new astro turf ground following the death of a 13-year-old boy in a landmine explosion. Two more boys were injured in the same incident.

Lt governor, Ladakh, Brig (Retd) B D Mishra had then gave his assurance to the people that the littered shells, which pose a threat to the their lives, would be cleared from Kargil villages gradually.

Mishra's remarks had come after the public decried the presence of a large number of unexploded shells from the army firing range and the 1999 Kargil war in Kurbathang and other areas.

"The whole area will be sanitised. An operation will be launched immediately to look for the blinds and other dangerous ordnance which will be cleared in a time-bound manner," the Lt Governor had told reporters at a Kargil hospital where he had gone to inquire about the condition of two boys injured in the blast.