At least 11 people were injured after terrorists hurled a grenade at a crowded market in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar.
According to the Jammu and Kashmir Police, terrorists hurled a grenade at the Hari Singh High Street — which is a few hundred metres away from the city centre Lal Chowk — when vendors were selling goods and the market was crowded with shoppers.
“At least 11 civilians have been injured in this grenade explosion. All the injured have been shifted to hospital,” police said.
The Kashmir Zone Police tweeted that the area has been cordoned off and search operations are underway.
The shops in the market were shut but a few vendors had set up stalls in the area.
The grenade attack comes at a time when the Valley is gradually limping back to normalcy with the lifting of restrictions on communication and movement.
The Jammu and Kashmir government had earlier in the day announced that all postpaid mobile services will be functional from Monday 12 noon in the Valley.
The lifting of restriction on communication comes after over two months of abrogation of Article 370, that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
Jammu and Kashmir was put under virtual curfew on 5 August when the Modi government scrapped the Article 370 and split the state into two union territories.
Telephone line services, including mobile phones and landlines, were suspended in the early hours of August 5.
The Government has affirmed that restrictions in Kashmir are aimed at preventing Pakistan from creating trouble through proxies and terrorists.
Post the revocation of Article 370, militants have been resorting to civilian killings and threats to instil fear among the people so that the return of normalcy is prevented in the valley.
The residents were reportedly asked to shut their shops in protest against the Centre’s move to abrogate Article 370.
Earlier in September, terrorists had barged into a house in Danger Pora village of Jammu and Kashmir’s Sopore district and opened fire injuring at least four people, including a baby.
On September 9, Jammu and Kashmir Police along with the Army and other security forces including the Central Reserve Police Force had arrested eight terrorists from the Sopore region after busting a terror module of the LeT.
According to the police, the men had hatched a conspiracy to print posters threatening locals against venturing out of their homes, either for trade, travel, schools or offices. They used to distribute these posters for circulation in local villages.
The arrests came a week after National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had said that more than 200 terrorists were trying to cross into India from Pakistan and Islamabad was trying to stoke violence in the region.
Meanwhile, the Indian Army and intelligence sources, quoting the confessions of two Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists captured recently in Jammu and Kashmir, have also said that around 300 trained militants are prepared to enter Indian territory from Pakistan.
Since the revocation of special status to J-K, several terror alerts have been sounded by the Army for various regions of the country including the national capital.