The Kashmir Pulse

POONCH — A hand grenade was found on Thursday evening from a cattle shed, situated close to the house of a former MLA Surankote, Chowdhary Akram, officials said.

Unnamed officials, quoted by the news agency KNO, said that a hand grenade was found lying in the cattle shed near the house of a former lawmaker.

“A team of forces rushed to the spot and took the hand grenade in their possession,” officials said and added that further investigation, in this case, is going on.

Earlier, five days ago, a mysterious incident of gunfire also occurred in the house of a former legislator following which some splinter marks were seen on the roof of the house.

SRINAGAR — A boy was injured after suspected militants hurled a grenade towards a CRPF vehicle in MK Chowk area of Hawal in Srinagar district on Sunday evening.

Srinagar Police in a tweet, as per the news agency KNO, said that the grenade was hurled towards a CRPF vehicle in a crowded area.

Police said it, however, missed the target and a minor boy received minor splinter injuries, while a search operation has been launched.

“There was an attempt to throw a grenade on a CRPF vehicle in a crowded area of MK Chowk. It missed the target and caused a minor splinter injury to one local boy. A search operation has been launched in the area to nab the culprit,” a police spokesman said.

SRINAGAR — A couple of civilians were injured after militants hurled a grenade in Nishat area of Srinagar on Sunday evening, police said here.

Srinagar Police, as per the news agency KNO, on its official Twitter handle informed that militants hurled a grenade in Nishat area this evening, in which a couple of civilians received minor injuries.

Police said that all were given first aid and have been discharged from the hospital, while a case has been registered in this regard.

“There was an incident of grenade throwing in Nishat area by terrorists, causing a low-intensity blast. A couple of civilians received minor injuries, all were given first aid and all have been discharged from the hospital. Case registered to nab the culprit(s),” police tweeted.

SRINAGAR — Suspected militants lobbed a grenade on CRPF bunker in Batpora area of south Kashmir’s Shopian district on Tuesday evening.

A top police officer, as per the news agency GNS, said that militants this evening lobbed a grenade on CRPF BP Bunker which exploded with a bang.

In this incident, no loss of life or injury was reported. "Soon after the attack, the whole area has been cordoned off to nab the attackers," the officer added.

SRINAGAR — A Sub-Inspector with CRPF was injured after militants hurled a grenade toward the paramilitary force’s bunker near Ali Masjid Eidgah area of central Kashmir’s Srinagar district on Saturday.

A senior police officer, as per the news agency GNS, said that militants lobbed a grenade on a CRPF bunker which exploded on the roadside.

"SI Parvez Rana of 161 battalion CRPF sustained minor splinter injuries," he said. He was shifted to the hospital for further treatment and is completely stable, the officer added.

Meanwhile, the whole area was cordoned off to nab militants but when the last report was filed, no arrests were made.

SRINAGAR — A non-local labourer was killed while as two others were injured after militants hurled a grenade toward them in south Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday evening, police said here.

Kashmir Zone Police, as per news agency KNO, informed that militants hurled a grenade toward non-local labourers at Gudoora village this evening. Police said that in the incident, a labourer died while two others were injured.

“Terrorists hurled a grenade on outside labourers at Gadoora area of Pulwama. In this terror incident, one labourer died and two others were injured. The area has been cordoned off. Further details shall follow,” a police spokesman tweeted.

SRINAGAR — A cop was injured after militants hurled a grenade towards a police party in Padshahi Bagh area of Bijbehara in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Wednesday evening.

A top police officer told GNS that militants lobbed a grenade at a police party, which resulted in splinter injuries to a policeman.

"He has been shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment, where his condition is stated to be stable,' the officer added.

Meanwhile, the whole area has been cordoned off to nab fleeing militants.

SRINAGAR — A person was killed and three others injured in a grenade blast inside a newly opened wine shop at Dewan Bagh in Baramulla district on Tuesday evening.

Official sources told GNS that a militant hurled a grenade at the wine shop this evening which exploded with a bang, leaving four persons, all employees, injured.

The injured were immediately shifted to hospital and one of them — Ranjit Singh (50) from Rajouri — succumbed to the injuries.

A police officer confirmed the grenade blast and told GNS that the attacker disguised himself as a buyer. He identified three other injured persons as Goverdan Singh (35) of Kathua, Govind Singh (35) of Rajouri and Ravi Kumar (36) of Kathua.

He said that the area has been cordoned off and searches have been launched to nab the attacker(s).

“At about 2010 hours, two (militants) riding on a bike stopped near the newly opened wine shop at Dewan Bagh Baramulla. The pillion rider wearing a Burka walked to the window of the wine shop and dropped a grenade inside the wine shop through the porthole window and thereafter fled away on the bike from the spot,” the police said in a statement issued later.

He said, “In this incident, four employees of the shop received splinter injuries. All the injured were immediately shifted to a nearby hospital. However, one among the injured identified as Ranjit Singh son of Kishan Lal, resident of Bakra Rajouri succumbed to his injuries.”

One among the injured, Govind Singh, he said, has been referred to Srinagar hospital for specialised treatment.

Senior Police officers immediately reached the militant crime spot. The area has been cordoned and searches in the area are going on.

Police, he said, have registered a case in this regard under relevant sections of law and an investigation is in progress.

SRINAGAR — Police on Tuesday claimed to have arrested two accused who threw a grenade at Amira Kadal in Srinagar city.

In a statement issued to GNS, the police said that on March 6, information was received about a grenade attack that took place near Amira Kadal bridge at about 4:20 pm. "On receipt of this information, a case under FIR number 18/2022 under Section 307 of IPC, Sections 7/27 of Indian Arms Act, Sections 16, 23 of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) was registered at Shaheed Gunj Police Station."

It was henceforth found out that a hand grenade was thrown towards a security vehicle and this blast caused injuries to a total of 38 persons including 36 civilians and two police personnel namely Reyaz Ahmed (SgCT) and Jan Mohd (SPO), they said.

Later, two of the injured among the civilians succumbed to their injuries namely Mohd Aslam Makhdoomi (79) son of Mohd Amin, resident of Makhdoom Sahab, Nowhatta and Rafia Nazir (18) daughter of Nazir Ah Tinda, resident of Hazratbal, according to the police.

In light of this, police said, Section 302 of IPC and Sections 3, 4 of Explosive Substances Act were added to this case.

Due to the heinous nature of the case and due to the panic it created among the general public, SSP Srinagar Rakesh Balwal (IPS) formed an SIT headed by Lakshay Sharma (IPS), SP South and consisting of Shabir Ahmed (SDPO Kothibagh), Fayaz Hussain (SDPO Shaheed Gunj), Faizan Ali (DySP/PC), Anzar Shah (DySP - Probationer), Gowhar Hussain (SHO Shaheed Gunj) and Taseer Ahmed (Inspector/PC) as members.

As per the police, the SIT employed modern means of investigation and based the investigation on the technical evidence like minute frame by frame analysis of the CCTV footages of the scene of the crime, footages of CCTVs in the whole of Srinagar city, cell tower dump analysis, IP dump analysis, a recreation of the crime scene and by examination of some eyewitnesses.

"Based on these, the SIT was able to identify two accused who came on a two-wheeler without number-plate to commit this crime and fled on the same vehicle after committing the militant act. During the intense analysis of the CCTV trail in Srinagar city, the route adopted by both accused was located back to one neighbourhood in Khanyar area," they said.

"The first accused namely Mohd Bariq son of Mohd Shafi Magrey, resident of Koolipora, Khanyar was arrested from Khanyar, Srinagar. His initial examination led to the arrest of the second accused namely Fazil Nabi Sofi son of Ghulam Nabi Sofi, resident of Koolipora, Khanyar. The two-wheeler used in this grenade attack was also seized by the SIT," they said.

The statement further stated that it further came out that these two accused had committed the militant act on the directions of active militants in Kashmir valley.

The plan was to attack the parked security vehicle but due to grenade throwing from a moving two-wheeler, the target was missed and the grenade exploded in an adjacent crowded area where many roadside vendors and buyers were busy in routine works, the statement said.

"Further, it was also found that this particular area was chosen due to the omnipresent chaos and turbulent traffic in this stretch of area due to unorganised vendors and stalls on the road. There have been two other recent grenade attacks in this area - on August 10, 2021, and on January 25, 2022," police said, adding that further investigation is underway.

As per the police statement, "This act of grenade throwing created terror, panic and anguish among the masses in the whole of Srinagar city. By way of this press release, Srinagar Police requests all commercial establishments/shops to install CCTV cameras inside and outside of their shops/commercial establishments as per advisory issued by DC Srinagar."

"This will act as a strong deterrence to all the anti-social elements, who think of committing such atrocious crimes," concludes the statement.

SRINAGAR — General officer Commanding (GoC) of Srinagar-based Army's 15 Corps Lieutenant General D P Pandey on Tuesday said that young men are being propagated to lob grenades at the busy places as militants have failed to carry out big strikes on security forces.

He also said that women of Kashmir have started coming to the forefront who otherwise were pushed to the wall in the past and this development will help prevent boys from treading the wrong path.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function organised on the eve of World Women's Day here, GoC Pandey said that since militants are not able to carry out big strikes on security forces of late, young men are being lured to lob grenades at busy public places as seen the other day in the city where an elderly man and a young girl lost their lives.

"We believe society has a great role to play here to prevent such incidents," GoC Pandey said as per news agency Kashmir News Observer (KNO).

He said women of all ages were brought to the stage today to boost their morale. "They were pushed to the wall and kept confined to four walls of the house. Now that they are out, we are sure they will help prevent young boys from choosing wrong paths," he said.

About the situation on the LoC, the GoC said since last year, there is peace along the LoC as kids are going to schools and people carrying out farming activities without fear.

SRINAGAR — A lady who had sustained injuries in yesterday’s Srinagar grenade attack succumbed this morning in the hospital.

At least 25 persons including a cop had sustained injuries while an elderly man died after suspected militants tossed a grenade towards security forces in busy Amira Kadal market of Srinagar on Sunday.

Hospital sources told news agency Kashmir News Trust that the injured 20-year old girl identified as Rafiya Nazir of Hazratbal Srinagar succumbed to her injuries on Monday morning.

Her body has been handed over to family, they said.

SRINAGAR — A civilian died while over 25 people including a cop sustained injuries after suspected militants hurled a grenade towards a joint forces party on Sunday in Srinagar.

The grenade was tossed at the busy Amira Kadal market.

Sources told news agency Kashmir News Trust that more than 25 people including a cop received splinter injuries.

The injured were shifted to the hospital. One of the civilians identified as Muhammad Aslam Makdhoomi, a resident of Makdhoom Sahab Srinagar succumbed to his injuries.

The Joint Forces rushed to the spot after the incident.