Friday, May 13 2005 13:05 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Srinagar: In the second such incident in the past decade, a bomb wrapped in a "box of sweets" exploded killing three members of a family in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, a senior police official said today (May 13, 2005).

The parcel bomb was delivered to the house of Mohammad Sayeed Kakroo, a driver by profession, in Bijbehara about 45 km from Srinagar around 22:30 hrs (IST) last night (May 12, 2005).

Kakroo and his son, Mohammad Rafiq, were killed immediately on opening the "box of sweets" parcel while his daughter, Shahzada, was injured in the blast and died in hospital this morning, Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Anantnag range) Shiekh Owais said.

There were only three persons present at home when the incident occurred, he added.

Police had launched a hunt for the person who hand delivered the parcel bomb, the DIG said.

In a similar incident in 1994-95, a photojournalist Mushtaq Ali was killed after a parcel bomb was delivered at the BBC office in Srinagar.

Meanwhile, the death toll in the car bomb explosion in Gogjibagh-Lal Mandi area of the city on Wednesday (May 11, 2005) has gone up to two. Harinder Singh, a resident of Jammu, succumbed to injuries at a hospital in Srinagar today, officials said.

This is the third bomb attack in two days in the Kashmir valley after Wednesday's car bomb blast. Two women were killed and 46 people, including 11 schoolchildren, injured when a grenade was hurled outside school at Lal Chowk yesterday.