Mukhtar Ahmed in Srinagar | July 24, 2008 13:03

Five civilians including four children were killed and 25 others wounded in a powerful grenade explosion inside summer capital Srinagar busiest bus stand at Batmallo in city uptown.


Police said militants hurled a grenade which exploded near a passenger booking counter inside the Batmallo bus stand Thursday afternoon.

"The grenade exploded while a large number of passengers were buying their tickets at the counter in the Batmallo bus stand. Five persons including four children and a woman were killed, while 25 others, mostly non local workers and Amarnath Cave Shrine returnee pilgrims were wounded," a senior police officer said.

The injured were evacuated to city's Sri Maharaja Hari Singh hospital where attending doctors have described the condition of at least five other injured persons as critical.

Two of the four children killed in the Thursday afternoon explosion have been identified as 12-year old Khusboo and 9-year old Adil both children of Mohammad Afroze, a labourer from Bihar.


The grenade blast triggered absolute panic in and around the bus stand, as hundreds of shoppers, commuters and bystanders started rushed to safety.


Paramilitary central reserve police force and police reinforcements cordoned off the entire area for searches as ambulances and police vehicles were used to shift the injured to SMHS hospital.



This is the first major militant strike in capital Srinagar after imposition of governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir [Images].

Last week nine army troopers were killed and more than 14 injured in a deadly improvised explosive device explosion on the Srinagar Uri highway.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/jul/24jk1.htm