Indian Border Security Force units kill 55 Kashmiri civilians in Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, in revenge after militants ambushed a BSF patrol.
The Sopore massacre refers to the alleged killing of at least 43 civilians by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) who were travelling on a bus from Bandipur to Sopore in Kashmir on 6 January 1993.
The Border Security Force (BSF) is India's border guarding organisation on its border with Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) of India, and was raised in the wake of the 1965 war on 1 December 1965, "for ensuring the security of the borders of India and for matters connected there with".It has various active roles during an outbreak of war. It is the only CAPF to have a Water Wing, Air Wing and an Artillery Regiment. It comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The BSF has its own cadre of officers but its head, designated as a Director-General (DG), since its raising has been an officer from the Indian Police Service. The BSF has grown exponentially from 25 battalions in 1965, to 192 battalions with a sanctioned strength of 270,363 personnel including an expanding Air wing, Marine wing, an artillery regiment, and specialized units. It currently stands as the world's largest border guarding force. BSF has been termed as the First Line of Defence of Indian territories.