Grenade attacks shatter Srinagar calm, injure two

After a relative lull, militants returned to Srinagar and hurled three grenades at security forces.

After a relative lull, militants returned to Srinagar and hurled three grenades at security forces. The attacks did not cause loss of life but created panic across the city, which is witnessing its first peaceful summer and record tourist arrivals since the emergence of militancy.

Though these can only be termed as a minor incident in Kashmir, this attempt by militants has alerted the security establishment especially as the annual Amarnath pilgrimage begins in two days. According to Government estimates, more than two lakh holidaymakers have already visited the Valley this season and hotel bookings suggest this summer will surpass the tourist arrivals

of 1988, a year before militancy erupted.

The first attack took place near Neelam cinema, the only functional cinema hall in the city, at around noon. “They grenade landed 25 yards away from our nakka party,” CRPF spokesman Prabhakar Tripathi told The Sunday Express. “One of our havaldars received minor injuries and an ice-cream vendor was also injured.”

Story continues below this ad

The police immediately sealed the area as the spot was close to the Civil Secretariat. Security around all important installations around the city was beefed up. At around 1 pm, the militants, however, returned and this time threw a grenade at a CRPF camp at Botashah mohalla, Lalbazar, in downtown city. “We have platoon deployed there in a building under construction and the grenade landed in its lawn,” Tripathi said. “There was no casualty.”

Within half-an-hour, the militants targeted a CRPF camp housed in Firdous cinema. “It (the grenade) landed near the lavatories which we have erected for our jawans,” the spokesman said. The grenade attacks did not cause much damage and security agencies believe this series of attacks was intended to send a message. “It is clear that their (militants) intention was to show their presence in the city,” Tripathi said.

Preliminary investigations of the Srinagar police reveal that a small group of militants from north Kashmir had managed to sneak into the city. “The militants have been attempting to carry out symbolic attacks in the city for a long time but each time we would stop them at the borders of Srinagar,” a senior police officer said. “This time, it seems one of them could break our security net.”