An Indian trooper and two porters were wounded in separate landmine blasts, close to Line of Control (LoC) dividing Kashmir, officials said Monday.

The trooper was wounded in Guntrain area of frontier Poonch, southwest of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"An army trooper was wounded during a routine patrol of the area in Poonch district," Indian military spokesman Lt. Col Manish Mehta said. "The trooper accidentally stepped on a landmine, resulting in its blast."

Reports said the trooper's right leg was critically wounded and he was immediately hospitalized.

Meanwhile, two civilians working with Indian military as porters were wounded in a separate landmine explosion in Keran sector of frontier Kupwara district, northwest of Srinagar.

"The landmine exploded accidentally while troops were carrying out some repair work on fencing near LoC," a police official said. "Both the porters were hospitalized and one of them has lost his right foot."

LoC is de facto border that divides Kashmir into Indian and Pakistani-controlled parts. Both sides of the cease-fire line is believed to be heavily mined.

In the frontier districts of restive Indian-controlled Kashmir apart from civilians, many troopers were killed and wounded in the past while stepping over landmines during patrolling.

International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), a Geneva based network seeking ban of landmines, has been urging both New Delhi and Islamabad to ban the use of landmines and launch comprehensive mine clearance programs.

India and Pakistan are yet to ban landmines and hence fall into the group of 36 countries in the world that are not signatories to the mine ban treaty.

According to ICBL officials, landmines on LoC and IB were mostly laid during 1947, 1960s, 1970s and during 1999 Kargil War between India and Pakistan.

New Delhi and Islamabad in 2003 agreed to observe cease-fire along the 720-km long LoC and 198-km long International Border. Though some violations have been reported on both sides, the cease-fire however remains in effect.

A guerilla war is going on between militants and Indian troops in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989. The gunfight between the two takes place intermittently.

During past more than two decades of ongoing armed insurgency in the region, many people were killed or left crippled after inadvertently fiddling with the explosives or stepping upon landmines planted blindly in the region particularly along LoC.

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