TralTwo civilians, including a woman were killed and 30 others, including some security personnel were injured in a grenade blast in Tral town of South Kashmir Thursday morning.
The police said that the unidentified militants tossed a hand grenade towards the cavalcade of States Public Works Minister Naeem Akhter Andrabi.
According to SP Awantipora Mohammad Zahid Malik hand grenade was lobbed towards the ministers motorcade at around 11.45 am. He said the grenade missed the intended target and exploded on the roadside in the busy market.
According to a report, the splinters hit two moving official vehicles, injuring an SE and Executive Engineer of R&B Department and a government vehicle driver.
Akhtar, who remained unscathed in the attack, was visiting the highly sensitive area to inaugurate a developmental project.
The dead have been identified as Ghulam Nabi Trag (56), and 28 year old Pinky Kour.
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Kour, a B.Ed student from Chattergam village was waiting for the bus at the time of the blast. Ghulam Nabi Trag of Tral Payeen is the second person in his family who became victim of turmoil. One of his sons was reportedly abducted by unidentified gunmen in 1991 and never returned home.
The injured included seven CRPF personnel, two policemen and 21 civilians.
All the civilians were shifted to SDH Tral where from 16 civilians and two CRPF men were discharged while rest of the injured were shifted to Srinagar hospital.
9 civilians were referred to Srinagars SMHS hospital for specialised treatment. Two of the injured who were critical were later shifted to SKIMS, Soura.
A spokesman of the SKIMS told Kashmir Observer that three civilians were brought to the hospital out of which one has been operated upon and is under observation; the second one was being operated upon at the time, while third was said to be stable.
The two civilians who are said to be critical, have been identified as Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh s/o Ama Sheikh r/o Tral payeen. Mushtaq has splinters in abdomen while another one has been identified as Shahid Shabir s/o Gh Nabi r/o Kharpora Shahabad. Sahahid has chest and abdominal injuries.
Earlier large number of people staged a protest outside Sub-district hospital Tral alleging that shortly after the grenade blast, armed forces fired pellets resulting in the injuries of civilians, a charge refuted by police.
According to Block Medical Officer (BMO), Tral, some of the injured have sustained pellet injuries.
Terming the use of pellets as totally baseless, SP Awantipora said that no pellet was fired. He however admitted the pellet injuries could be due to presence of pellets in the grenade. He said adding pellets used in the grenade are splinters and people have sustained the splinter injuries.
He said some shots were fired in air to prevent any further attack. He said that the forces showed maximum restraint during the incident.
Asked how militants managed to attack ministers convoy despite tight security measures, Malik said, Tral chowk is a very busy place and there is always huge rush of civilians. We had taken all precautionary measures but there is always apprehension of such type of attacks in the congested places.
Tral in Pulwama district is the stronghold of the militants. The slain Hizb commanders Burhan Wani and Sabzar Bhat hailed from the Tral.
List Of Injured
Police identified some of the injured as Ghulam Nabi Naik s/o Ghulam Rasool R/o Trali payeen, Sajad Ahmed Zarger s/o Ghulam Hassan r/o Trali payeen, Ghulam Mohiudin Lone s/o Ghulam Hassan r/o Khasipora, Ghulam Hassan Dar s/o Habibulla r/o Nambalbal Pampore, Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh s/o Ama Sheikh r/o Trali payeen, Manzoor Ahmed Reshi s/o Gh Rasool r/o Trali payeen, Javid Ahmed Zarger s/o Gh Hassan r/o Trali payeen, Reyaz Ahmed Naik s/o Muhammad Yousuf r/o Trali payeen, Chandani kour d/o Paramjeet Singh r/o Gadpora, Karamjeet Singh s/o Babu singh r/o Chatergam, Shairoo Singh s/o Babu singh r/o Chatergam, Shahid shabir s/o Ghulam Nabi r/o Kharpora Shahabad, Superinending Engineer R&B Showkat Ahmed, Crpf constable Bipin kumar 180/bn, Sgct.Shabir Ahmed 456/Awt, Ct Mohammad Abid 558/Awt, Ghulam Nabi Trag s/o Resh joo r/o Tral payeen, Reyaz Sheikh s/o Juma Sheikh r/o Diver Tral, Zaiba Begum w/o Abdulla Khan r/o Handoora, and Muhammad Iqbal Khan r/o Tral.
CM Condemns Attack
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and others while condemning the Tral attack expressed sympathies with the bereaved families.
Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti strongly condemned the grenade attack at Tral in which two civilians were killed and many were.
The Chief Minister said it is unfortunate that the attack took place when a Minister had gone to the town to assess the development needs of the area which has remained neglected for decades.
She said the vicious cycle of violence which unfortunately has engulfed the State for three decades now needs to be broken to stop the bloodshed and provide a breather to the people who have been choked by it.
“How long are we going to suffer like this on human, developmental, economic, educational and social fronts,” she said and added that we shall have to ponder over for how long this senseless bloodletting is going to consume us.Mehbooba Mufti conveyed her sympathies with bereaved families of those killed and also wished the injured a s
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