Ahead of the first session of the newly elected legislative Assembly on November 4, one of the highly guarded and busiest streets of Srinagar city near the Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) was hit by a grenade attack in which at least 11 civilians were injured on Sunday.
The grenade attack took place less than 24 hours after one foreign terrorist identified as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Commander Usman Lashkari was eliminated by the joint team of security forces during an eight-hour gunfight in the Khanyar area of Srinagar city on Saturday.
After these two back-to-back strikes, the security grid has been alerted in Srinagar as the newly elected legislators will be attending the five-day-long maiden assembly session of the legislative Assembly.
A large number of shoppers were present for the weekly ‘Sunday market’ at the time of the grenade attack. All the injured were rushed to the nearby Sri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital (SMHS) hospital for treatment.
According to initial reports, the attackers missed the target as they intended to hit the security personnel deployed in the area to inflict maximum injuries. According to hospital records civilians between the age group of 16 to 55 years were left injured in the attack. The explosion caused panic in the area and sent shoppers scrambling for cover. The security personnel also laid a tight cordon and carried out random searches in the area to nab the attackers.
The Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha spoke to DGP, Nalin Prabhat and senior officials of the security agencies on the grenade attack in Srinagar. He directed the security officials for an effective and forceful response to punish the terrorists and their associates. The Lieutenant Governor reaffirmed the government’s resolve not to allow terrorist elements to succeed in their nefarious designs.
“Terrorists targeting our citizens will have to pay a very heavy price for their actions. You have full freedom to crush terror outfits and leave no stone unturned to complete this mission,” the Lieutenant Governor told the senior security officials.
The Lieutenant Governor wished speedy recovery of those injured and directed that district administration should extend all possible assistance.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also reacted to the second incident of terrorist violence in Srinagar. He said the security apparatus must do everything possible to end this spurt of attacks.
“The last few days have been dominated by headlines of attacks & encounters in parts of the valley. Today’s news of a grenade attack on innocent shoppers at the ‘Sunday market’ in Srinagar is deeply disturbing. There can be no justification for targeting innocent civilians. The security apparatus must do everything possible to end this spurt of attacks at the earliest so that people can go about their lives without any fear” Omar posted on X (earlier Twitter).
