Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 3: Nearly a dozen people, mostly shoppers, were injured, some of them critically, in a grenade attack on a Sunday market near the heavily-guarded Tourist Reception Centre, an area close to Lal Chowk in Srinagar, the capital city of Jammu and Kashmir.
The police said a grenade was hurled in the Sunday market which exploded on a street vendor’s cart. The injured were rushed to SMHS Hospital for treatment.
An official said at least six injured were shifted to hospital with splinter injuries. While four of the injured were discharged after first aid, at least two of the injured were stated to be in critical conditions requiring surgeries to extricate splinters entering their bodies.
The police suspect that the grenade was thrown by some terrorists. Officials said militants tossed a grenade towards the busy market in high security zone. It exploded with a bang, causing panic among shoppers. The grenade came a day after a top Pakistani commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was eliminated by security forces in the Khanyar locality of downtown Srinagar on Saturday.
Vidhi Kumar Birdi, Inspector General of Police for Kashmir, said the terrorist, Usman, was a Lashkar-e-Taiba commander. “Now this operation has been completed. 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,” he had said.
The J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah termed the latest attack as “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,” Mr Abdullah said.
The past few days have seen a series of gunfights between terrorists and security personnel. Earlier yesterday, security forces gunned down two terrorists in an encounter in Anantnag district.
The injured in Sunday’s grenade attack were 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. Srinagar Deputy Commissioner Dr Bilal Mohidin said two injured would have to undergo a surgery due to severe injuries. “We came here (hospital) to meet the injured. They are undergoing treatment, 2 patients will have to undergo surgery. Special care will be given and the remaining injured will be released after treatment…” he said.
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.” The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir visited the injured civilians and assured them that strict action would be taken against the perpetrators of this crime.
Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary condemned the attack and urged the J-K police to do everything possible to end the spurt of attacks at the earliest in the region. “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. @JmuKmrPolice must do everything possible to end this spurt of attacks at the earliest so that people can go about their lives without any fear,” he said in a post on X.
Former Chief Minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti also condemned the attack. She said, “Condemn the heinous grenade attack in #Srinagar today. Such acts of #violence are deplorable and only serve to perpetuate a cycle of fear and hatred. Praying for the swift recovery of the injured,” on X.
Congress leader Ravinder Sharma viewed this as 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 said.