ISLAMABAD, Jan 29: An inquiry has been ordered into the Cholistan landmine blast in which a member of the hunting party of United Arab Emirates’ finance minister was killed last week, a military source told Dawn .

An official of the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Tuesday, asked to comment about the incident, said he could say only that an investigation had initiated.

Saifullah Taif, one of the escorts of United Arab Emirates Finance Minister Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Makhtoum, had died when the landmine went off. Two others in the party were seriously injured.

The incident had taken place near Kalapahar, 100 kilometres from Bahawalpur.

On Monday, Rani Bibi, an old woman, was critically injured due to a mine blast in the Dandot village of Sialkot near the Darman Shakargarh working boundary.

The official said that laying of landmines was a normal process along the working boundary and the Line of Control (LoC).

The mines were laid last year by the Pakistan army at a time when Indian troops had massed on the border during high tension between India and Pakistan. Demining had begun after the withdrawal of Indian troops.

The ISPR official said that areas where mines were laid were properly marked out with barbed wires.