12 injured in grenade attack at Srinagar flea market
At least 12 civilians were injured in a grenade attack on security forces in a busy Srinagar market , officials aware of the matter said on Sunday, the latest in a series of terror attacks that have rocked Jammu & Kashmir since the conclusion of assembly polls in October.
According to officials, terrorists hurdled a grenade from a flyover at a weekly flea market, popularly called ‘Sunday Market’, opposite the Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) in the afternoon, in the first major extremist strike in Srinagar in two years.
The flea market is laid on the footpath of the Residency Road leading to the City Centre in Lal Chowk and is a popular among tourists and local residents.
Thousands of people visit the market on Sundays and hundreds of them were there at the time of the attack, the officials added.
“We just heard a bang and everyone started running. There was a rush of people,” Muzaffar Ahmad, a street vendor, said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a police official said that 12 people received splinter injuries in the grenade attack.
They were admitted to the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital and their condition was stable, the hospital’s medical superintendent, Tasneem Showkat, said.
“We came here [hospital] to meet the injured. Two of them will have to undergo surgery,” Srinagar’s deputy commissioner, Bilal Mohidin, said.
A forensic team of the J&K Police reached the market soon after the attack to gather evidence, officials aware of the matter said.
They added that the grenade exploded close to a paramilitary vehicle and a security party stationed at the start of the market, indicating that the defence personnel were the target of the attack.