Srinagar, Aug 25: Two grenade explosions rocked Indian administered Kashmir on Thursday. The explosions left two persons including an Indian border guard dead and 13 persons injured.
Reports said unknown persons lobbed a hand grenade towards the Indian border guard BSF patrol party at busy Jamia Market in Baramulla, some 55 kms north of Kashmir this afternoon. The grenade exploded with a big bang causing injuries to two border guards and equal number of civilians.
The injured were taken to local hospitals, where critically injured civilian identified as Abdul Ghani Gojri, 24, and a border guard U. Halder of 9th Bn succumbed.
The doctors attending on another injured BSF man in the army hospital and civilian in SMHS hospital termed their condition as stable.
Witnesses said the incident took place when some BSF men were busy shopping in the Jamia market area in the afternoon. “During this process, some unknown persons lobbed a grenade towards the troopers,” they said.
After the blast police and paramilitary forces laid siege around the area to flush out the militants responsible for the blast. However, no arrests were reported.
The incident caused panic in the area with people running helter skelter. The shopkeepers pulled down shutters of their shops and ran for safety. The private transport also disappeared from the roads. Later, normalcy was restored.
In a separate incident, 11 persons were injured when unidentified persons lobbed a grenade towards paramilitary gypsy at the Bus Stand in Batmaloo in heart of city this afternoon. The grenade missed the intended target and exploded on the road.
The injured were taken to the SMHS hospital, where doctors termed condition of most of them as stable.
One of the injured Ghulam Nabi Bhat, who sustained a leg injury in the attack and was admitted in hospital for treatment, said the grenade was hurled from some unknown direction. “It hit the bus from behind and subsequently fell on the road and exploded with big bang,” he said.
He also said he was trying to cross the road and catch the bus at the bus stand when the explosion took place. “Scores of people including me were injured in the blast,” he said.
No militant group has owned the responsibility of the attacks.
