Hundreds of people attended the funeral of a civilian wounded in a mysterious grenade blast at south Kashmir’s Tral town last week after he succumbed to his injuries in a Srinagar hospital.
Two civilians were killed in the blast and a dozen others were injured, a few hours after a fidayeen attack had occurred at an Army formation in Mohra village of Uri, killing eight soldiers, three policemen and six militants.
Eyewitnesses said that 40-year-old Fayaz Ahmad Dar was descending a flight of stairs in a shopping complex when a shrapnel hit his head. He ran a shop on the first floor of the complex.Police said the grenade was hurled at security personnel on duty in the bus stand but eyewitnesses said that the security personnel were withdrawn from the area when the blast occurred.
“There was no security vehicle around. The grenade was aimed at common people and exploded within them”, said Gulzar Ahmad Naik, a shopkeeper who had a providential escape. The mystery of the blast deepened when an independent candidate Abdur Rashid Sheikh alleged that the PDP was behind the attack. The PDP had, however, dismissed the allegation.
“The blast occurred four days before polling. It was definitely aimed at creating scare among the people. Who did it we don’t know,” said Abdul Ghani Ganai, a meat-seller who witnessed the blast.
Two locals, Ghula Hassan Gojri (60) and Muhammad Shafi Gojar (27), also died in the blast on the same day. After Dar’s death, a spontaneous shutdown was observed in the town.