Five people were killed and 40 wounded on Friday when suspected Islamist militants staged a wave of grenade attacks in the capital of Indian-held Kashmir, police said. The attacks took place in a three-kilometre radius of Srinagar with four blasts occurring within an hour of each other. The fifth struck at Dalgate, on the shores of popular tourist resort Dal Lake, and wounded five people. The five killed in the attacks were all civilians – three women and two men. They died of their injuries at Srinagar’s main hospital, said Mushtaq Ahmad, a police officer at the hospital. The first grenade, hurled at an Indian Border Security Force truck passing through one of the city’s main thoroughfares injured two soldiers, confirmed Superintendent of Police Anand Jain. He said that the attack took place outside the city’s main telephone exchange near the office of the state’s ruling Congress party. Jain confirmed that within minutes of the first blast, a second grenade was launched at Hari Singh High Street in the city centre, killing a Nepalese woman, a Kashmiri man and injuring six others. He said that two policemen were injured in a fourth explosion at Srinagar’s main bus station when their jeep caught on fire and that another blast had occurred in areas near the bus station. A police spokesman said that six of the injured were police and paramilitary men and that the militants had been targeting Indian security forces.
Pro-Pakistan Islamist groups Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, Al-Mansoorain, Islamic Front and Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility, in separate statements, for the attacks, reported the Srinagar-based Current News Service. “I could see people falling down after a deafening blast,” said Abdul Ahad from his hospital bed after his arms were lacerated by splinters received in the explosion. Srinagar’s main hospital was flooded by frantic relatives seeking information about the victims.
The attacks came as thousands of Muslims made their way towards the Hazratbal shrine to offer special Friday prayers following celebrations marking the birth anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad [