SRINAGAR, India, 24 January 2007 — Three soldiers of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed and five wounded in a massive land mine explosion in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district yesterday afternoon.

Police said militants set off an improvised explosive device by remote control at village Brar Badina as a CRPF vehicle carrying troopers passed by.

The injured were taken to the Soura Medical Institute in Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar, where the condition of two of them was described as critical by a senior police officer.

The blast triggered widespread panic in the area as its sound was heard in adjacent villages. Tension was reported high in the area where troop reinforcement was immediately sent. Soldiers were hunting for militants in villages around the scene of attack, local residents said.

In a telephone call to the Current News Service, a local news agency, Junaidul Islam, describing himself as a spokesman for the Hizbul Mujahedeen, said the organization was responsible for the blast.

Earlier, a border guard was hurt in a grenade attack by militants in northern Bandipora town, police said. Security forces detected and defused a roadside bomb in the same town hours earlier, police added.

On Monday, security forces said they recovered 100 kilograms of explosives during raids on three rebel hide-outs on the outskirts of Srinagar.

Both the hard-line and moderate factions of the region’s main separatist alliance, the Hurriyat Conference, have called for a “total strike” on Jan. 26, India’s Republic Day.

“We don’t have any complaint against the people of India, but when their troops are committing atrocities against Kashmiris how do they expect us to participate in their celebrations?” said a statement by the hard-line wing of Hurriyat.

“By observing a shutdown on India’s Republic Day, we have to show to the world that the ongoing freedom struggle will continue until we achieve our right to self-determination,” said another statement by the moderate wing of the alliance.

Hizbul Mujahedeen also urged people to “reaffirm their commitment toward the ongoing freedom movement by observing Jan. 26 as a black day.”

Kashmiris have spurned Republic Day since the eruption of an insurgency against Indian rule in 1989. The day marks the date in 1950 when the country’s new republican constitution came into effect. India gained independence from Britain in 1947, but went through a transition phase when it was still classed as a dominion.