SRINAGAR, 15 April 2006 — Five civilians were killed and 15 others including two paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers injured in a rash of grenade blasts that rocked Kashmiri summer capital Srinagar yesterday afternoon.
Police said three civilian by-standers were killed and two others were seriously wounded in a powerful hand grenade explosion in the tourist hub area of Dalgate on the banks of the Dal Lake.
They said militants hurled a grenade targeting a posse of securitymen at Dalgate, regulating the passage of traffic. The grenade exploded on the road killing three civilians and injuring two others.
The injured were evacuated to hospital.
Minutes earlier militants hurled another powerful hand grenade at a paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) bunker at Amirakadal in the heart of Srinagar yesterday afternoon injuring 12 civilians.
The injured were evacuated to hospital where two of the injured succumbed to injuries as doctors were battling to save them.
The condition of some of the injured is described as critical.
Earlier, another powerful hand grenade was lobbed at a BSF vehicle near the high security Bharat Sanchar Nigham Limited (BSNL) headquarters.
Three persons including two BSF troopers were injured in the explosion. They were taken to SMHS hospital for treatment.
Yet another blast occurred at Batmallo in city uptown when a grenade exploded inside a police vehicle. Two civilians were injured and the vehicle was destroyed.
Another grenade blast took place at Magarmal Bagh in city uptown. However, so far no injury reports have been received in that blast.
The explosions took place in a series sending life haywire in the entire city. Security in the summer capital has been beefed up.
In another development, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has written a strong missive to chief ministers of 11 states in the country seeking their co-operation to ensure that Kashmiri students and traders who seek education and commerce outside their state are not harassed.
The missive addressed to chief ministers of West Bengal, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Utter Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar, Rajasthan and Maharastra also sought assurances on the safety of the residents who work or engage themselves in academics in other states.
Though reports of harassments of Kashmiris in different states of the country have poured in ever since the present separatist violence started here in 1989, the immediate provocation has been the killing of two locals in Gujarat recently.
