A total of ten civilians sustained injuries in a grenade attack near the heavily-guarded Tourist Reception Centre, an area close to Lal Chowk in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar on Sunday.
This comes as a grenade was hurled in a Sunday market, which exploded on a street vendor’s cart. The injured were rushed to SMHS Hospital for treatment.
The injured have been identified as Misba aged about 17 years, Azaan Kaloo aged about 17 years, Habibullah Rather aged about 50 years, Altaf Ahmad Seer aged about 21 years, Faizal Ahmad aged about 16 years, Uer Farooq, Faizan Mushtaq aged about 20 years, Zahid aged about 19 years, Gulam Muhammad sofi aged about 55 years, and, Sumaiya Jan aged about 45 years.
Out of these, four people were discharged after giving first aid.
Today’s attack came a day after the top Pakistani commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was gunned down by security forces in the Khanyar area of downtown Srinagar.
Special Operation Group of J&K Police has been deployed to investigate the attack.
A search operation has also been launched by the security forces to track down the attackers.
The explosion triggered panic in the area as the shoppers were seen scrambling for cover.
A local resident said, “Nothing like this ever happened here. I don’t know what’s going on here for a few days now… Even during the peak of militancy, nothing like this ever happened."
CM Omar Abdullah reacts to grenade attack
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah described today’s attack as “deeply disturbing" and said that those responsible for people’s security “must do everything possible to end this spurt of attacks".
“The last few days have been dominated by headlines of attacks & encounters in parts of the valley. Today’s news of a grenade attack on innocent shoppers at the ‘Sunday market’ in Srinagar is deeply disturbing. There can be no justification for targeting innocent civilians. The security apparatus must do everything possible to end this spurt of attacks at the earliest so that people can go about their lives without any fear," Abdullah posted on X.
Congress leader Ravinder Sharma said that there is a conspiracy to destabilise the elected government. “This is a conspiracy to disturb the atmosphere here. Such incidents have increased ever since elections have been held and the new government has been formed… Sunday market is mostly crowded. I will pray for the well-being of those injured in the attack… This proves that militancy is still there in the valley… Central government has the entire law and order and security apparatus in its hand. We call for strict action…" he told news agency ANI.
