SRINAGAR, 11 November 2006 — Five people were killed and at least 50 wounded yesterday, including women and children, when a grenade was hurled at worshippers in a crowded mosque in restive Indian Kashmir, police said.
Separatist militants threw a grenade inside the mosque compound in south Kashmir’s Tahab village in the Pulwama district, 42 kilometers from here yesterday afternoon.
“Several hundred local worshippers had gathered for the Friday prayers inside the Tahab village mosque when militants lobbed a grenade that exploded inside the mosque compound. Two men and three women have been killed and 50 others wounded in this explosion,” said S.M. Sahai, inspector general of police (Kashmir Zone).
“This is a clear act of terrorism. We condemn it. Whoever has done this can never be a friend of Kashmiris,” said leading Kashmiri political separatist Javed Mir.
All the injured were removed to the Pulwama district hospital where attending doctors referred many of the critically wounded to Srinagar hospitals for specialized treatment.
In another incident, militants lobbed a grenade at a security force patrol in the Hari Singh High Street area of the city yesterday afternoon injuring five people including three civilians, one local policeman and a paramilitary central reserve police force trooper.
