At least 12 civilians were injured in a grenade attack on security forces in a busy Srinagar market , officials aware of the matter said on Sunday, the latest in a series of terror attacks that have rocked Jammu & Kashmir since the conclusion of assembly polls in October.
According to officials, terrorists hurdled a grenade from a flyover at a weekly flea market, popularly called ‘Sunday Market’, opposite the Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) in the afternoon, in the first major extremist strike in Srinagar in two years. The flea market is laid on the footpath of the Residency Road leading to the City Centre in Lal Chowk and is a popular among tourists and local residents. Thousands of people visit the market on Sundays and hundreds of them were there at the time of the attack, the officials added.
“We just heard a bang and everyone started running. There was a rush of people,” Muzaffar Ahmad, a street vendor, said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a police official said that 12 people received splinter injuries in the grenade attack. They were admitted to the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital and their condition was stable, the hospital’s medical superintendent, Tasneem Showkat, said.
“We came here [hospital] to meet the injured. Two of them will have to undergo surgery,” Srinagar’s deputy commissioner, Bilal Mohidin, said.
A forensic team of the J&K Police reached the market soon after the attack to gather evidence, officials aware of the matter said. They added that the grenade exploded close to a paramilitary vehicle and a security party stationed at the start of the market, indicating that the defence personnel were the target of the attack.
“Terrorists lobbed a hand grenade at a security force deployment near crowded Sunday Market of Srinagar. The grenade exploded within the crowd, injuring 12 civilians, one among them a lady who sustained serious injuries. Police has taken cognizance of this act of terror and is committed to ensuring that the perpetrators are brought to justice,” the Srinagar Police posted on X.
The last major terrorist strike in Srinagar took place in March 2022 when two people were killed and 12 injured in a grenade attack in Amira Kadal.
“Nothing like this has ever happened here [Sunday Market]. I don’t know what has been going on for a few days now… Even during the peak of militancy, nothing like this ever happened,” news agency ANI quoted an unnamed local resident as saying.
Sunday’s attack came against the backdrop of a string of terror strikes and encounters in J&K after its first elected government since the revocation of Article 370 in 2019 was sworn in on October 16. On Saturday, three terrorists, including a top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander, were killed after parallel encounters broke out in Anantnag and Srinagar. It was the first major gunbattle between terrorists and forces in Srinagar in two years.
Earlier this week, security forces gunned down three terrorists after a group of extremists opened indiscriminate fire on an army ambulance in the Akhnoor sector of Jammu district. On October 24, two soldiers and two civilian porters were killed after terrorists ambushed an army convoy in the Baramulla district of Kashmir. Four days before that, seven people were killed when terrorists opened fire on a construction site camp in the Ganderbal district of the Valley. On October 18, Ashok Chauhan, a 37-year-old migrant labourer from Bihar was shot dead by suspected terrorists in the Shopian district of South Kashmir.
The attacks have ruptured the fragile peace maintained in J&K during the polling cycle and renewed security concerns in a region that has been embroiled in gunfights throughout the year.
“The last few days have been dominated by headlines of attacks & encounters in parts of the valley. Today’s news of a grenade attack on innocent shoppers at the ‘Sunday market’ in Srinagar is deeply disturbing. There can be no justification for targeting innocent civilians. The security apparatus must do everything possible to end this spurt of attacks at the earliest so that people can go about their lives without any fear,” J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah said in a post on X.
On Saturday, Omar’s father and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah demanded a probe into the surge in terror strikes, suggesting that it could be an attempt to destablise the region’s first elected government in ten years. The BJP rejected the investigation demand and urged the former CM to exercise restraint while making such statements.
Senior BJP leader and Union minister Pralhad Joshi condemned Sunday’s attack and added that the central government has zero tolerance towards terrorism. “The Indian government and J&K government will take joint action in this regard… This is an issue of national security. It has hardly been 20 days since the formation of the new government, it is not right to play a blame game,” he said.
Former J&K chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president said the frequent attacks will add to “the cycle of fear and hatred” in the restive UT. “Condemn the heinous grenade attack in Srinagar today. Such acts of violence are deplorable and only serve to perpetuate a cycle of fear and hatred,” she said in a post on X.
This year, nine personnel and 15 civilians have died in terror attacks in Kashmir. Security forces have killed 24 terrorists in the Valley in the same period. In the same period, 15 security personnel and 11 civilians have died in separate attacks in Jammu. Security forces have gunned down 10 terrorists in the region.
