The Hindu : Front Page : 40 injured in explosions in Kashmir

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 29, 2005

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40 injured in explosions in Kashmir

Shujaat Bukhari

Hizb owns responsibility

SRINAGAR: After a brief lull, the militants detonated an explosive-laden car in Anantnag town and hurled a grenade in the Dalgate area of Srinagar on Saturday, wounding nearly 40 persons.

Some of the injured are reported to be in a critical state. Sources said that a car believed to have been loaded with explosives ripped apart around 1 p.m. on the Khanabal-Pahalgam road in Anantnag town of South Kashmir.

The blast was detonated by a remote control device when an armoured vehicle of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), its apparent target, was passing by. However, the blast injured 13 civilians and seven CRPF personnel. The wounded lay in a pool of blood. District Superintendent of Police, Anantnag, Syed Ashiq Hussain Bukhari, told The Hindu that it was yet to be ascertained whether the explosive was kept in the car or if it was parked over a landmine. Most of the injured were shifted to Srinagar for specialised treatment. "A few are serious," a doctor attending on them said. Windowpanes of several buildings and houses were shattered under the impact of the explosion. Some CRPF and private vehicles were damaged.

Hizbul Mujahideen spokesman Junaidul Islam rang up newspaper offices here and owned responsibility for the blast. Two hours later, militants hurled a grenade towards a Border Security Force vehicle in the busy Dalgate area. It missed the intended target and exploded on the road, injuring 17 civilians, who were rushed to hospital where two of them is stated to be in a critical condition.

Meanwhile, one foreign militant was killed in an encounter in Lolab in Kupwara district while the body of a special police official, Reyaz Ahmed Shah, was fished out of the Jhelum after he was abducted 11 days ago. A woman, Zarifa Akhtar, was abducted by militants in Handwara and later killed.

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