06 Injured as Grenade attack rattles bustling Srinagar market
Crush the terror with full freedom: LG tells Police Chief
Associated News Bureau
(ANB): Six civilians, including two women and four teenagers, were injured in a grenade attack in a busy Sunday market near Srinagar’s Tourist Reception Centre (TRC).
The injured were mostly shoppers who had come to the Sunday market for the shopping purpose.
The attacks happened just a day after a major day-long encounter took place in Srinagar’s Khanyar area, in which a Lashkar-e-Toiba commander, who the police identified as Usman Lashkari, was killed, according to the Associated News Bureau (ANB).
Shortly after Sunday’s grenade attack, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha spoke to top security officials, including Jammu and Kashmir’s Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat, and called for an “effective and forceful” response. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah urged “the security apparatus” to “do everything possible to end this spurt of attacks”.
Police sources said the grenade was aimed towards Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel near the TRC. It missed the target and hit a street vendor’s cart, injuring 12 shoppers, sources said.
The injured were rushed to a hospital for treatment. Doctors said all of them have splinter injuries. One of the injured women is in a critical condition while the others are stable.
This is the first grenade blast in Srinagar in the past two years. In 2022, two civilians were injured when a grenade exploded near Srinagar’s Amirakadal bridge.
In a post on micro-blogging site X, Abdullah wrote, “The last few days have been dominated by headlines of attacks and 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.”
With the Valley seeing a steep uptick in violence in the last fortnight, Lt Governor Sinha also directed senior police and security officials to respond effectively to such violent acts. (ANB)
