Grenade attack in Srinagar Sunday market leaves 12 people injured. This unfortunate incidence happened near the busy Tourist Reception Centre (TSP).
Srinagar: The Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) in central Srinagar is a heavily guarded area where an unfortunate incidence happened on Sunday. 12 civilians, including two women and four teenagers, got injured in a grenade attack around 2:10 p.m. Most of them were shoppers. The explosion causes panic among the shoppers in the area.
“Today at about 1410 hours, terrorists lobbed a hand grenade at a security force deployment near the crowded Sunday market of Srinagar. The grenade exploded within the crowd, injuring 12 civilians, one of whom was a lady who sustained serious injuries. The police have taken cognizance of this act of terror and are committed to ensuring that the perpetrators are brought to justice. Case FIR No. 66/2024 under sections of 16 UAP Act, 109, 115(2) BNS, and 3/4 of the Explosives Substances Act has been registered in Police Station Kothibagh, and an investigation has been set into motion.” Srinagar police said in a post of X in 3rd Nov.
The attack killed a high-ranking Pakistani commander, Usman Lashkari of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), during an operation in the Khanyar locality of downtown Srinagar. It happened just a day before the J&K assembly was scheduled to begin a five-day session. Police informed us that the foreign militant killed in the encounter, Usman, had been active in Srinagar for the last few months. The IGP said that he was involved in the killing of inspector Masroor Wani, who was shot in the Eidgah area of Srinagar while playing cricket on October 29 last year. He died at AIIMS, Delhi, in December.
In a statement earlier in the day, the Jammu and Kashmir police said that “a cordon and search operation in Khanyar has resulted in an exchange of fire” and that “police and security forces are on the job.”.
This was the first grenade attack at the same location in two years, since March 6, 2022, when an explosion left 30 people injured and two dead. Due to its reasonably priced winter clothes and household goods, the Sunday market along Residency Road and TRC Chowk usually attracts sizable crowds from nearby districts, making it a prime target for these kinds of attacks.
According to police, the grenade was aimed at a security car stationed close to the TRC, but it missed its mark and fell onto the busy street with lots of people shopping.
Inspector General, J&K Police (Kashmir Zone), V K Birdi, said that “four security personnel-two each from the J&K Police and the CRPF—were injured in the day-long encounter. They were admitted to the Army’s 92 Base Hospital and are stable,” officials said.
“We just heard a bang, and everyone started running. There was a rush of people,” Muzaffar Ahmad, a street vendor, said.
J&K’s Health Minister Sakina Masood and the Srinagar Deputy Commissioner, Dr Bilal Mohiuddin, rushed to the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh hospital in Srinagar right after the incident.
Immediately after Sunday’s explosion, 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.
In a post on 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.”
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah urged “the security apparatus” to “do everything possible to end this spurt of attacks.”
Shortly after the incident, a J&K Police forensic team arrived at the market to collect evidence.
