SRINAGAR, 16 April 2006 — Nine suspected militants were arrested over a series of grenade attacks in Indian Kashmir’s main city that killed five people and injured 43, police said yesterday.
The seven blasts occurred Friday in the summer capital Srinagar, regarded as the urban hub of a deadly 16-year revolt against New Delhi’s rule in Kashmir.
It was the first major violence in the city since last November when a car bomb killed five people and injured 60.
All nine men, arrested on Friday and yesterday, were suspected of belonging to a pro-Pakistan militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed, said the region’s police chief, Gopal Sharma.
“Our swift investigations have led to the arrest of nine militants involved in these attacks,” Sharma told reporters in Srinagar.
Security was stepped up since the attacks with troops searching all cars coming into the city and frisking pedestrians. Security forces were deployed in strength around state-owned radio and television buildings.
“We’re on high alert,” police inspector Altaf Ahmed said as his men checked cars with metal detectors.
Four rebel groups including Jaish, based in the Pakistani zone of divided Kashmir, have claimed responsibility for the blasts. Police said the attackers had aimed at security forces but had also hit civilians.
The attacks came as thousands of Muslims headed toward a mosque in Srinagar for special prayers following celebrations marking the anniversary of Prophet Mohammed’s birth Tuesday.
They also came 10 days before elections opposed by militants and separatists to fill four vacant assembly seats.
The explosions cast a pall over the city as residents were fearful of stepping out of their homes and streets were practically deserted.
“There’s no business at all,” said Ahmed Khan, a fruit seller in the city.
Sharma said the arrests happaned after police seized a minibus late Friday carrying explosives on the outskirts of Srinagar, home to over a million people.
“Our men recovered 38 grenades and other ammunition from the minibus,” said Sharma, adding that questioning of a suspect on the bus led to the arrest of the others.
Six of the nine arrested were from Srinagar. “Interrogations are continuing and more arrests are likely,” Sharma said.
Even as the state police chief claimed to have busted the module of Jaish outfit responsible for yesterday’s serial bombings, militants carried out another grenade explosion in downtown city rattling the confidence of the residents.
Police said militants lobbed a powerful hand grenade late this afternoon at a paramilitary bunker in downtown Khanyar area hours after the police claim. Though no one was wounded in the attack the explosion led to panic in city downtown.
The usually busy fashionable Residency Road in the heart of Srinagar looked half filled, with commuters and shoppers preferring to remain indoors in the wake of the bombings.
