Hizbul militant killed, 4 policemen injured in grenade attack

 A Hizbul Mujahideen militant was killed and four policemen escorting him to Baramulla district jail were injured in a grenade attack by ultras here today.

A civilian pedestrian was also injured in the attack on the vehicle carrying the militant, Shakeel Ahmad Kasana, who was an undertrial, in the crowded Batamaloo bus stand in central Srinagar around noon, a police spokesman said.

Kasana, a resident of Akhal village of Kangan in Ganderbal district, was a Hizbul Mujahideen militant who was arrested last year under Section 7/25 of the Arms Act and slapped with the Public Safety Act, the spokesman said.

The grenade was lobbed by unidentified militants on a police vehicle carrying Kasana to Baramulla district jail from Panthachowk police station, he said.

The grenade landed and exploded inside the vehicle, injuring four policemen and Kasana, who later succumbed at a hospital, he said.

This is the first militant strike in Srinagar since the Muslim fasting month of Ramzan began last week.

Police assisted by security forces cordoned off the area immediately after the grenade attack but no one was arrested in the subsequent search operation, the spokesman said.

The attack comes barely four days after suspected militants brutally killed a policeman by slitting open his throat in Vilgam village of Kupwara district