March 23, 2003	Sunday	Muharram 19, 1424

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SIALKOT, March 22: Four people, two of them minor girls, were killed while six others hurt in an explosion at a house-cum-shop at chak Santhal in Sialkot working boundary’s Bajwat sector on Saturday.

Reports said Kibriya Iqbal alias Mali, who dealt in raw iron material, was dismantling a rocket at his shop when it suddenly exploded. Iqbal and his daughters Sonia, 3, and Alisha Manzoor, 2, died instantly while Asghar Ali, 15, succumbed to injuries at a local hospital.

Those injured are Rani bibi, Humrat bibi, Iqbal’s wife Manzoor bibi, Shah bibi, Waqas and Suleman. They were admitted to the Allama Iqbal Memorial Hospital in critical condition.

Official sources told Dawn that deceased Iqbal had found an Indian-made rocket from fields in a neighbouring village.

Trying to use it for some purpose, they said, Iqbal tried to break the rocket, which exploded.

The sources said the Indian forces had fired this rocket on the Pakistani border village last year. They added that the intelligence agencies had started an operation to detect more explosive materials in the working boundary’s villages.

AGRI MALLS: The United Bank (UBL) has announced establishment of 100 agriculture malls throughout the country at a cost of Rs500 million in collaboration with the private sector.

A UBL press release said on Saturday more than 200 farmers in every union council would be able to benefit from this scheme.

It said the bank had opened 54 branches near fruit and vegetable markets in the country to provide farmers modern banking facilities and to curb the role of middlemen.

It said the bank was giving agricultural loans on 12 per cent mark-up to farmers for establishing milk processing and fruit packing plants, cold storages and flour mills.

MURDER: Two people allegedly stabbed their sister Rani and her husband Afzal to death in Mughalpura locality, Daska, for contracting love marriage.

Yasin, an employee at the Government Boys Degree College, Daska, and Asif entered the house of their sister by scaling the boundary wall and murdered them.

The Daska city police have registered a case against the absconding accused.