Nine injured in Srinagar blast

Srinagar, Feb 2: As many as seven civilians and two CRPF personnel were injured in a grenade blast here in Lal Chowk area of Srinagar city on Sunday.

The blast occurred at around 12:30 pm when the city-entre area was abuzz with vendors and shoppers who had come to shop at the weekly flea market.

As per police, suspected militants lobbed the grenade on a team of CRPF personnel of 171^st battalion who were deployed inside Pratap Park.

Two CRPF personnel and seven other civilians were hit with splinters. The injured civilians were rushed to Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) hospital where the doctors declared their condition as “stable”.

“Three out of seven injured have been discharged. The injuries were minor and others too will be discharged soon,” said Medical Superintendent SMHS hospital, Dr Nazir Choudhary.

Police said two injured CRPF personnel have also been treated and are stable.

The loud explosion created panic in the area as people ran for their safety. Panicked after the blast, women, children and men were jostling for space to maneuver their way to safety.

The otherwise overcrowded Lal Chowk got decongested as many vendors left for their homes closing up their stalls.

Following the incident, forces mainly police and CRPF rushed to the spot and cordoned-off the area to nab the grenade thrower.

Inspector General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Ravideep Singh Sahi said the attack was aimed at “impacting the normalcy returning in the valley.”

“This is nothing extraordinary, but you know today is Sunday market and they have taken advantage of that. Both our injured men are recovering and both are safe,” he said.

He said the people responsible for the attack are trying to “create apprehension among locals so that normalcy does not return.”

“Those who threw the grenade want to panic locals so that normalcy does not return,” Sahi said.

This was the second such blast in Srinagar this year as the first one was reported in Habak area of Srinagar on January 6.

Police, later on January 16, arrested five people in connection with the Habak and last year’s November 26 Hazratbal blast.