SRINAGAR: A teenager was killed and over 30 people were injured in a grenade blast at Jammu’s main bus terminus on Thursday. Four injured persons are stated to be ‘critical’.
The police blamed the attack on Hizb-ul-Mujahideen outfit and said that its cadre who carried it out has been arrested. The incident has been widely condemned across Jammu and Kashmir with various political parties and leaders including separatists terming it a ‘cowardly act’.
The police and witnesses said that a youth hurled the powerful grenade towards a stationary in J&K Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) bus at the bus terminus at around 11.45 pm. The grenade fell on the road beneath the bus and exploded with a big bang, smashing its windscreens. Thirty-three persons received splinter injuries, hospital sources said.
One of the injured, 17-year-old Muhammad Shariq succumbed to injuries. A resident of Uttarakhand’s Haridwar, the teenager had received a deep splinter wound in the chest, hospital officials said.
“CCTV camera footage was examined after the blast and based on the footage and oral testimony of witnesses we were able to identify a suspect. He was soon detained and he confessed to the crime himself,” Jammu’s Inspector General of Police Manish Kumar Sinha said.
