The death toll in Sunday’s grenade attack near city centre Lal Chowk in Srinagar rose to two as a young woman lost her battle for life at a hospital here on Monday morning.
Dr Kawaljeet Singh, Medical Superintendent of SMHS Hospital in Srinagar, said a 20-year-old woman, Rafiya, succumbed to her injuries early this morning. She had suffered multiple injuries in the blast which took place at 4.20 pm at the busy Hari Singh High Street market on Sunday that injured over two dozen pedestrians.
A 70-year-old man had died on the spot while the rest of the injured were shifted to various hospitals in Srinagar. There was a huge weekend crowd in the market when the militants struck.
The CCTV footage of the incident, which went viral on social media, showed the attacker throwing the grenade near a parked police armoured truck. The explosion triggered panic and people were seen running helter-skelter with several hit by splinters falling to the ground.
Police have detained several persons for questioning in connection with the blast. However, so far no breakthrough has been achieved to nab the attackers.
Last year on August 10, ten civilians were injured in a grenade attack at the same location. Later on January 25 this year, a police officer and three civilians were injured when militants lobbed a grenade at the same spot.
There has been a spurt in grenade attack cases in Kashmir in the last two years and what is worrisome for the security forces is that these attacks are coming up at a time when they are already on a high alert.
DIG Central Kashmir Sujit Kumar acknowledged that it’s now a new trend of militants to attack busy places. However, he refused to accept that there were any security lapses. He said they will improve the network and with the help of electronic gadgets and eyewitnesses, the attackers will be nabbed soon.
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