Srinagar: Picking on soft targets, terrorists on Monday killed 10 people, including seven Nepalese labourers and injuring four Amarnath Yatra pilgrims, in two major strikes in Jammu and Kashmir.
The day began with a grenade attack at the main bus stand in Jammu, in which one person was killed and 31 others injured, including Amarnath pilgrims.
"I was calling the passengers when the blast took place. I can't remember what happened after the third blast," — bus conductor Barfchand "I was going to catch the bus when the blast took place. There were three simultaneous blasts and suddenly there was chaos everywhere," — Amarnath pilgrim from Ahmedabad, Rekha "I was going to catch the bus. Everyone was standing when the blast took place. We rushed out but one of our family members was hurt," — Ahmedabad resident Kailash Patel
Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area. However, extent of the damage and casualties was restricted as most of these buses were empty and were awaiting passengers, police said.
Besides the Amarnath pilgrims, the injured also included two women and a child, two personnel of the Central Industrial Police Force (CISF) and locals.
The injured have been admitted to the GMC hospital in the city. No terrorist outfit has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The bus stand is located close to a camp, where hundreds of pilgrims stay before embarking on a two-month-long journey to Amarnath.
"We are investigating these attacks. Three grenades were hurled on the buses, one of them of Vaishnodevi pilgrims", said senior Superintendent of Police, Jammu, Mukesh Singh on the spot.
Singh, who was monitoring the security situation following the attacks, said "grenade pins and other evidences are being searched for to determine if grenades were thrown from the bus stand area or from the road above it".
The police have detained 10 people for questioning.
"Possibility of Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashker-e-Toiba's involvement in these attacks is also there", the police officials said adding that there were also intelligence inputs that terrorists wanted to disturb the Amarnath yatra.
The identity of the dead is yet to be known and the body has been kept at the mortuary of the GMC hospital.
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Five persons have been discharged after being administered first aid while 26 are undergoing treatment at the hospital, police said adding that terrorists may have wanted to target the Vaishnodevi pilgrims as the bus they hit was Katra-bound.
In the second major strike of the day unidentified gunmen shot dead nine non-Kashmiri labourers, which included seven from Nepal, after pulling them out of a brick kiln at Budroo village in Kulgam, about 75 km from Srinagar.
They segregated the Kashmiri labourers and lined up the non-Kashmiri labourers and fired at them from point blank range. While six died on the spot, three succumbed to their injuries in hospital, an official said.
The attack on the Jammu bus stand drew condemndation from across the state including both factions of the separatist conglomerate Hurriyat Conference.
State Governor S K Sinha and Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said the grenade attack on the bus stand was "a dastardly act" and that terrorism had no place in a civilised society.
The Hurriyat moderate faction led by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said, "We condemn the activities in which innocent and unarmed citizens are being targetted."
Meanwhile, the hardline group of Syed Ali Shah Geelani said, "Islam teaches us to respect life irrespective of faith of the persons."
Amidst stepped-up militant violence, a schoolboy was killed and 25 people, including 10 policemen, were injured as fresh protests against alleged desecration of a mosque and the holy Quran by some armymen erupted on Monday in Kupwara district in Kashmir valley prompting authorities to clapmed curfew in
some areas.
Javed Ahmad Malik, a class 10 student, was killed when police and CRPF opened fire to disperse the protesters at Trehgam, some 96 kms from here, after some security personnel were injured in heavy stone pelting by them, officials said.
Kupwara Deputy Commissioner Abdul Majid Khanday said security forces had to open fire in self-defence when they were attacked by mobs.
He said curfew was clamped in areas falling under Tregham as the situation in the area was tense.
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