J-K Dy CM survives again, 6 dead

Among the injured are Anantnag Deputy Commissioner Asghar Samoon, Tameel Bashir, Additional SP, Anantnag, and six police personnel including two women constables. Three journalists too suffered splinter injuries.

Mir said they had gone to Kapran to launch the awareness programme — Grand Health Mela — aimed at educating the rural masses about medicare, livestock rearing and adoption of modern techniques to boost agriculture and horticulture sectors.

‘‘We had just completed our speech when the Animal Husbandry officials asked us to distribute cheques to farmers. While I was handing a cheque to a villager, there was a loud bang. It was followed by another one,’’ he said.

Following the blast, chaos and confusion reigned at the Anantnag district hospital as villagers looked for their loved ones. Vinni, a seven-year-old girl, had come from Krishangam to check if her mother, Rita Kaul — a police constable — was alive or not. She found her injured mother just as she was being helped into an ambulance headed for Srinagar for specialised treatment. The plight of Hanifa, mother of 18-year-old Rafiqa, from Kapran, was heart-rending. As the body of her daughter was placed in the ambulance, she kept kissing her till she fainted. ‘‘She was to get married soon but now I will have to bury her,’’ she cried.

Today’s attack at Kapran is the second attempt on the Deputy CM’s life in a week. Sharma escaped an attack five days ago when militants lobbed a grenade in Lal Chowk. CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed visited Soura hospital in Srinagar where most critical patients were admitted.