Many takers for J&K bus

MUZAFFARABAD: Thousands of people queued up outside government offices in Pakistan occupied Kashmir on Monday to get permit forms for travelling on a historic bus to Srinagar, an official said. Pakistan and India have agreed to re-establish the travel link across Kashmir to help reunite thousands of divided families and the first bus between Muzaffarabad, in PoK, and Srinagar, is scheduled to begin on April 7. — AP

5 S Korean tourists killed

BANGKOK: Five South Koreans including a pregnant woman were killed when their speeding car crashed and burst into flames in Thailand outside a hotel where a cabinet meeting was under way, police said on Monday. The occupants, mostly believed to be tourists, died at the scene when the car lost control and hit a power pole in the coastal resort of Cha-Am on Sunday, police said. In another incident before dawn on Sunday, two people including an Indian businessman were killed and another two injured when a drunk man accidentally drove his van into a crowd at a bus stop in front of Bangkok’s international airport. — AFP

Soldier killed in Kashmir

SRINAGAR: Soldiers raided a rebel hide-out in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Monday, sparking a gunbattle that left an army officer dead and another soldier wounded, a police officer said. The soldiers raided the hide-out in Zandabal village after a tip that militants were hiding in the area, the officer said. Major Shobat Tiwari was killed when the militants fired at the soldiers. — AP

Tusker tramples 3 to death

GUWAHATI: Three villagers were trampled to death and seven wounded by a wild Asiatic elephant searching for home-made rice beer in India’s northeastern state of Assam, a wildlife official said on Monday. The elephant went on a rampage tearing apart huts and then attacked sleeping villagers, killing three and seriously injuring seven others. The tusker strayed from a big herd in the jungle and ransacked Dalokgarupara village on Sunday morning in a hunt for fermented ‘chang’ made from rice grains. — AFP

Strike over tsunami relief

COLOMBO: A strike gripped Sri Lanka’s northeastern town of Trincomalee on Monday as thousands of residents protested the slow distribution of tsunami relief aid, police said. The multi-ethnic coastal town was at a virtual standstill with transport brought to a halt by protestors blocking the main entry points, a police official in the area said by telephone. “We have stepped up our presence and the military too is assisting,” the police official said from Trincomalee. — AFP

Seven killed in Indonesia

JAKARTA: A speedboat packed with passengers slammed into a sand bank in a river on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, killing seven and leaving 23 other missing and feared dead, officials said on Monday. The “Tungkal”, which was carrying 70 people, crashed on Sunday on the Kuala Kampar river in Riau province. Rescuers have found seven bodies close to the crash site, while 23 others are unaccounted for. Officials feared the 23 may have drowned. —AP

Quake rocks Mumbai

MUMBAI: A moderate earthquake rattled buildings in Mumbai on Monday, forcing people to flee their offices, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. The 5.1-magnitude tremor was centred about 210 km southeast of Mumbai, in the Koyna region which is prone to earthquakes, said AK Shukla, director of seismology at Indian Meteorological Department in New Delhi. Several high-rise buildings were evacuated in downtown Mumbai’s financial district as a precaution. — AP

14 Myanmarese held

Jammu: Seventeen Myanmar nationals have been arrested in Jammu and Kashmir while trying to cross over to Pakistan, officials said on Monday. The Border Security Force took them into custody at the Hiranagar sector, about 60 km southwest of Jammu, Friday night. Four of them were women and two children. — HNS