People injured in Bijbehara grenade attack being shifted to SMHS hospital in Srinagar for treatment on Wednesday. (Photo through special arrangement)
SRINAGAR: In the first major breach of the ongoing Ramzan ceasefire announced by the Central government in Jammu and Kashmir on May 16, militants on Wednesday lobbed a grenade towards a security forces vehicle at Goriwan Chowk in Bijbehara area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
A police official said the grenade missed the target and exploded on the road, injuring 10 passersby, including a boy and three women.
The injured were taken to a nearby hospital, which referred four of them to Srinagar hospitals for specialised treatment.
The condition of a 12-year-old boy, Fazal Ahmad, who sustained splinter injuries in the abdomen, is said to be critical.
No militant group has so far claimed responsibility of the grenade attack. On May 20 too, militants had flung a grenade at security forces patrol team in Muran Chowk, Pulwama district.
The grenade did not explode, and was neutralised by the bomb disposal squad. After the Ramzan ceasefire came into effect, security forces have halted active anti-militancy operations, including intelligence- based Cordon and Search Operations across the valley.
Though the militants had not responded, but they had so far largely respected the ceasefire and desisted from attacking the security forces.
Barring a gunfight in Handwara forest last week, where the Army killed four Jaish-e-Mohammad militants in a two-day-long encounter, there has been no major encounter.
BJP leader’s guard flees
A policeman posted on guard duty at the residence of BJP leader Mohammad Maqbool War at Rafiabad area of Sopore in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district has fled with the rifle of another policeman and deserted the force.
A police spokesman, while confirming the incident, said Special Police Officer (SPO) Waseem Ahmed has stolen a weapon from Personal Security Officer of a protected person in Sopore from his personal trunk.
“The SPO was posted at the residence of Maqbool War as a guard and was there without a weapon. He decamped with service rifle of another SPO posted there,” he said. Police has launched a manhunt to track down the absconding cop.
