At least ten civilians were injured in a grenade attack at “Sunday market” near the heavily-guarded Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) — an area close to commercially busy Lal Chowk in Kashmir’s Srinagar, police said on Nov 3.
The grenade hurled by suspected militants exploded near a street vendor’s cart in the market, which usually witnesses a huge rush of shoppers on Sunday, according to a senior police officer.
The injured were rushed to Shri Maharaja Singh Srinagar (SMHS) for treatment and all are stable, he said.
Police identified the injured as Misba (17), Azaan Kaloo (17), Habibullah Rather (50), Altaf Ahmad Seer (21), Faizal Ahmad (16) Uzer Farooq Bhat (7), Faizan Mushtaq (20) Mushtaq Ahmad Sofi (21) Gulam Muhammad Sofi (55), and Sumaiya Jan (45)
A search operation has been launched by the security forces to track down the suspected militants behind the attack, the police officer added.
The explosion triggered panic in the area as the shoppers were seen running away from the busy market.
The attack comes a day after the top Pakistani commander Usman alias Chota Walid of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was gunned down by security forces in the Khanyar area of Srinagar.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah condemned the attack on civilians.
Describing the attack as “deeply disturbing” Abdullah said that those responsible for people’s safety and security “must do everything possible to end this spurt of attacks.”
“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,” Abdullah posted on X.
“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,” he added.
