Six civilians injured in J&K's Baramulla grenade attack

At least six civilians were injured when a grenade lobbed by the militants at an army convoy missed the target in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Monday.

Defence spokesperson Col Rajesh Kalia said that terrorists hurled a hand-grenade on an Army convoy moving from Baramulla towards Srinagar, which missed the last vehicle and resulted in injuries to six civilians.

“The injured have been shifted to hospital. The area has been cordoned off and search op is in progress,” he added.

There has been a spurt in grenade attack cases in Kashmir in recent times 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.

A senior police officer involved in counter-insurgency operations said militants may have received a fresh consignment of grenades and they are targeting forces just to create an impression that they were present and militancy alive in the Valley.

“After facing heat across Kashmir due to relentless operations by the security forces, militants are trying to revive the strategy of lobbing grenades at security forces and on busy roads. Throwing grenades at busy places is either aimed to provoke the security forces to fire indiscriminately or create a fear among them that they are vulnerable to such attacks,” he said.