10 civilians injured in grenade attack in Srinagar

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Srinagar: Ten civilians were injured when militants lobbed grenades at security forces on Tuesday in the busy Hari Singh High Street area of the city, police said.

Soon after the incident, an intensive checking was carried out leading to the arrest of a man who worked as a journalist with a local news gathering agency. Two grenades were seized from him, officials said.

"Around 2.45 pm, terrorists hurled a grenade in Hari Singh High Street area in District Srinagar. Senior police officers immediately reached the spot," a police spokesperson said.

He said the preliminary investigation revealed that terrorists hurled a grenade towards a bunker of the SSB in the area.

"However, the grenade missed the intended target and instead exploded on road resulting in minor injuries to 10 civilians who were taken to a nearby hospital," the spokesperson said.

He said that following the incident, all the entry and exit points in and around the Lal Chowk area were sealed and all checkpoints across the city were activated.

"During the intensive checking, a joint naka party near Makkah Market apprehended a suspicious person and upon searching his bag, two grenades were found," he said.

The man, Adil Farooq Bhat, a resident of Khrew Pampore, has been arrested. He is a journalist with a local news gathering agency, the police spokesperson said.

He said Bhat was earlier arrested in February 2019 and detained under PSA for his involvement in providing logistics as well as other support to the active terrorists operating in the Khrew area.

Police have registered cases under the relevant section of the law and investigation was underway, he said.