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J&K: 12 civilians injured in grenade attack in Srinagar
The blast occurred at the Sunday market near the Tourist Reception Centre in Srinagar.
At least 12 civilians were injured in a grenade attack that took place in Jammu and Kashmir's capital Srinagar on Sunday. The injured have been shifted to Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital (SMHS).
The blast occurred at the Sunday market near the Tourist Reception Centre in Srinagar. The explosion caused panic in the area and sent shoppers scrambling for cover.
"The injured include eight men and one woman. All are so far stable, " said medical superintendent of SMHS, Dr Tasneem Showkat.
Police and paramilitary forces have been rushed to the spot to evacuate the injured and launch a search operation to track the terrorists.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah condemned the incident, calling it “deeply disturbing."
“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.
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Top Lashkar commander neutralised by security forces
The grenade attack comes a day after a top Pakistani terrorist affiliated to Lashkar-e-Toiba was gunned down by security forces in Srinagar.
“Security forces have killed a terrorist, who has been identified as Usman..., he was the commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and 4 security personnel have been injured. He is a foreign terrorist and his role and involvement in the murder of Inspector Masroor has come to light and further investigation is being done in this regard,” inspector general of police (IGP) VK Birdi told ANI.
Usman was also the right-hand man of Sajad Gul, the TRF commander based in Pakistan. The Resistance Front (TRF) is believed to be a shadow outfit of the LeT.
Jammu and Kashmir witnessed two encounters on Saturday, one in Srinagar's Khanyar and another at Halkan Gali in Anantnag. While Lashkar commander Usman was killed in a Srinagar encounter, two terrorists were neutralised in the Anantnag gunbattle.
This was the first encounter in Srinagar in more than two years. The last one took place in September 2022 at Nowgam. Two local terrorists of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH) were killed in that encounter.
(With PTI, ANI inputs)
