E-Paper
Grenade attack kills teen at Jammu bus stand, suspect caught in 5 hrs: Cops
The blast took place near the Jammu bus stand’s exit point. This is the third such incident at the bus stand in the last 10 months.
The man who allegedly threw a grenade at a bus at the Jammu bus stand has been arrested, Jammu and Kashmir DGP Dilbagh Singh was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. The person had reportedly been tasked by the Hizbul Mujahideen to throw the grenade, Jammu IGP Manish K Sinha said at a press conference.
“Teams were constituted to work on leads, CCTV camera footage examined, and based on oral testimony of witnesses we were able to identify a suspect. He was detained, and has confessed to the crime,” Sinha said, adding, “He was tasked to throw this grenade by District Commander of Hizbul Mujahideen in Kulgam, Farooq Ahmed Bhatt alias Omar.”
One of the 30 people who were injured in the grenade explosion at the Jammu bus stand has succumbed to his injuries at the Government Medical College and Hospital. The deceased has been identified as 17-year-old Mohammad Sharik, a resident of Haridwar, Uttarakhand, IGP Jammu tweeted.
Thirty people were injured, three to four among them critically, in a powerful grenade blast around noon at the busy Jammu Bus Stand in the heart of the old city here on Thursday.
allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allow="encrypted-media" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%;">
The deputy commissioner, who immediately rushed to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) to monitor the treatment being provided to the injured, said some of the injured were being operated upon. Among the injured were bus drivers, conductors and some passersby.
Also read: Sleep deprived, choked, beaten up: How IAF pilot Abhinandan held off Pak grilling
A police officer said the grenade had been placed under a bus.
“We are working on all the leads. We are collecting the evidence and will hunt down the perpetrators,” a police officer told reporters.
Soon after the incident, police rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area. Forensic experts were also called in to lift evidence.
A witness Rakesh Kumar said, “There was a big explosion in a bus and the impact was so powerful that the windscreens of three to four other buses were also smashed. Many people were injured but there were three to four persons, who were critically injured. You can see their blood on the spot. There was total chaos and panic after the explosion as people ran to safety. We didn’t rush to the injured fearing a second explosion because a strange noise was coming from the bus on which the grenade was planted. We waited for some time and then went to their rescue. There was no police at the time of the incident.”
“Obviously the intention is always to disturb communal peace and harmony.... We are sure to hunt them down,” a senior police officer said.
This is the third grenade blast in the vicinity in the past 10 months.
Past midnight on December 28, suspected terrorists had hurled a hand grenade near the bus stand police station. No one was injured in this attack.
Earlier on May 24, three policemen and a civilian were injured in a similar grenade attack on the under-construction bus stand along the BC Road. The accused were subsequently arrested.
