Two civilians injured in Srinagar grenade attack

Two civilians got injured when suspected militants hurled a grenade on CRPF personnel at Habak Chowk in the outskirts of Srinagar city on Wednesday.

Police said the grenade, which was lobbed at Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) men at Habak, outside Kashmir University (KU) campus, missed the target and exploded nearby causing injuries to at least two civilians.

Sources said the grenade was lobbed over the wall from inside the KU campus. Following the attack, security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to nab the culprits, reports said.

This was the second such attack in the city in four days. On January 4, militants had hurled a grenade on CRPF personnel in Kawdara locality in Srinagar, resulting in injuries to a 16-year-old boy.

Since August 5 last year when the Center revoked J&K special status under Article 370, over 100 civilians have been injured in multiple grenade attacks across Kashmir. A senior police officer said if the recent grenade attacks are an indication, it seems that militants have revived the strategy of lobbing grenades at security forces and on the 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.

The officer said that the use of grenades also allows the attackers to go incognito in the crowd, without being detected or identified. “The grenades are lobbed mostly by upper ground workers of the militants, which makes it even more dangerous,” he added.