M A I N   N E W S

Grenade attack on Cong HQ
Urdu daily Editor shot at in Srinagar

A soldier receives first aid after being injured in a grenade explosion at the Congress Party headquarters in Srinagar on Tuesday. — Reuters photo

Srinagar, September 17
The Editor of an Urdu daily was shot at and injured even as three Congress candidates from Srinagar district for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections today had a narrow escape in a grenade attack by militants on the party headquarters here, the police said.

The Editor of a leading Urdu daily ‘Srinagar Times’, Sofi Ghulam Mohammad, was today shot at and injured by militants here, his family members said.

Sofi was hit by bullets at his residence in the Dalgate area and was rushed to hospital, they said, adding that his condition was stable.

Militants lobbed a grenade at the party office around 2.50 pm which fell near the fence, injuring a security man, they said.

Ghulam Mohammad Sheikh, Nazir Ahmad Peer and Abdul Gani Khan, who are contesting the elections from Batmaloo, Hazratbal and Eidgah, respectively, were holding meetings with their supporters in the office when the attack took place. They escaped unhurt.

This is the second grenade attack on the Congress headquarters since August 2, the day the schedule for the Assembly poll was announced. No one was injured in the earlier attack.

A Congress spokesman alleged that the ruling National Conference and not the militants were responsible for the attack.

The “National Conference is behind the blast as the mood of the people in the first phase of elections which concluded yesterday frustrated the party,” he said and demanded an inquiry into the attack.

He alleged that the attack was carried out by surrendered militants backed by the NC.

Meanwhile, one person was killed and 13 injured when militants hurled a grenade towards a security vehicle at Lal Chowk in Anantnag town today, official sources said.

A civilian, Shahbaz Yousuf, was killed and 13 others injured when the grenade missed the vehicle and exploded on the road, creating panic in the town.

A PDP worker, Abdul Hameed Parra, who was chief election agent of the party candidate from the Pattan constituency of Baramula district, was shot dead by militants inside his house at Nagba in the Kreeri area, the sources said.

A jawan, Kirpal Singh, was injured in a militant attack during polling in the Dangiwachi area of Rafiabad in Baramula and succumbed to his wounds late last night, the sources said.

Meanwhile, a top JeM militant, Sarfaraz Ahmad Mir, was killed in an encounter with the BSF at Maqdoom Mohalla in Pulwama district of south Kashmir last night, a BSF spokesman said.

JAMMU: A powerful improvised explosive device (IED) exploded on the Thanamandi road of Rajouri district, where one militant was killed and two militants are holed up in the Noushera area since this morning, according to official sources here.

One militant was killed in an encounter between security forces and militants at Manpura village in the Noushera belt of Rajouri this morning.

In another incident, troops gunned down an ultra in Kishtwar area of Doda district during operations for the forthcoming polling in the district. PTI