Militants struck twice within a span of three hours in Kashmir on Thursday lobbing grenades that killed a BSF jawan and a civilian and left 13 others injured.
The militants first threw a grenade at BSF personnel stationed at Jhelum Market in Baramulla, 55 km from Srinagar, at around 12.35 p.m., police sources said.
Four persons, including two BSF jawans, were injured in the blast. Later, one of the injured civilians — Abdul Gani — succumbed to injuries, they said.
Of the injured BSF personnel, Head Constable U. Haldar was shifted to a hospital in Srinagar in a critical condition and later succumbed to injuries, the sources said.
Three hours later, the ultras tried to target a CRPF vehicle by lobbing a grenade in busy Batamaloo area of Srinagar but missed it.
The sources said the grenade exploded by the roadside, resulting in injuries to 11 people.
The injured were rushed to SMHS hospital where all of them were reported to be stable.
No militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the attacks so far.
Militants had carried out grenade attacks on CPRF camps on August 14 but Thursday’s strikes were the first attacks in crowded areas of Kashmir during the Muslim fasting month of Ramzan.
Meanwhile, Independent MLA from Langate S.A. Rashid demanded a probe into the grenade blasts, claiming that the police and the people were making “different claims” about the incident.
“People claim that there was no militant attack and that a civilian was killed by the grenade that exploded in the hands of a BSF jawan due to the unknown reasons. (This) needs to be inquired,” Mr. Rashid said in a statement.
He said militants should also make their stand clear on Thursday’s attacks as they have been claiming that their actions would not be targeted at civilians.
The MLA also visited the family of the civilian killed in the blast and paid Rs. 25,000 cash from the Joint Effort Trust (JET).
