Burst Tyre Sparks Gun Battle

A burst tyre is an inconvenience no matter where it occurs, but at least motorists in the UK don’t have to worry about this…..

The education minister of Jammu and Kashmir, a disputed territory between India and Pakistan, narrowly escaped with his life after army troops mistook the sound of a tyre rapidly deflating to be a militant attack and began indiscriminately firing their weapons throughout the convoy of vehicles in which he was travelling.

Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed was en route to the wedding of a colleague’s son when the heavily worn tyre fitted to a military vehicle escorting the entourage burst. Soldiers in the vicinity, accustomed to the regional tensions with neighbouring Pakistan and the odd tussle with Islamic separatists, wasted no time in responding to the tyre’s loud, gunshot-like report.

Although the brief battle between the deflated tyre and army troops resulted in the convoy being riddled with bullet holes – Peerzada’s vehicle alone was hit by four or five bullets – miraculously nobody was injured during the incident. Tyre casualties, however, remain unreported and unknown; once again little attention has been paid to the innocent, rubbery victims of a bitter and long-standing conflict.