Hand grenade attack kills 2, injures 20 in J&K

A hand grenade attack killed two and injured twenty in Indian-administered Kashmir on Thursday, police said.

Two people were killed and 20 injured in a blast outside the home of a local mystic in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore town on Thursday afternoon, just after devotees had finished lunch.

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All the injured in the incident, which occurred when separatist guerrillas tossed a grenade outside the residence of 'Malang' Ahad Sahib in Sopore, 42 kms from Srinagar, were brought to Srinagar's Soura Medical Institute. Two of them, including a woman, succumbed to their wounds.

Amongst the injured was policeman Wajahat Hussain.

"The devotees had just finished lunch at the Malang's langar (community meal) and were proceeding inside the house to meet the saint when the explosion occurred," Hussain said.

"The residence of the dervish is thronged daily by hundreds of people who come to invoke his blessings from different parts of the valley," added a senior police officer.

Ahad Sahib, aged over 90 years, is a mystic who does not strictly conform to the practice of regular prayers or adherence to codified religion. In local parlance, such saints are called 'Malangs'.