Srinagar, December 2
Twentyone persons, including one Senior Superintendent of Police and 18 policemen, were injured in a grenade explosion by militants in the heavily guarded district police headquarters in Anantnag town of Jammu and Kashmir today.
Militants tossed a grenade at the district police headquarters, 55 km from here, which exploded inside the compound around 11.45 am when SSP Abdul Qayoom Manhas entered the complex on his way to office, official sources said.
Manhas escaped with minor injuries in the blast, which left 18 other policemen, including Station House Officer of Kokernag police station G.M. Parray, and two civilians injured, the sources said.
The injured were
admitted to the district hospital and eight policemen and two civilians were referred to Soura Medical Institute in Srinagar for treatment.
Most of the injured were escort personnel of senior police officers functioning from the headquarters.
An hour later militants hurled a grenade on a CRPF patrol at nearby Khannabal-Pahalgam road but the device did not explode and was later defused, the sources said.
The police assisted by paramilitary forces immediately cordoned off the area to nab the militants who escaped after the attack.
As the explosion rocked the district police headquarters, the state government transferred 19 senior officials including Manhas, who has been posted as SSP, CID, Headquarters, replacing Muneer Ahmad Khan who has been posted as SSP, Baramulla. Ashkoor Ahmad Wani, Commandant of Fifth Battalion was appointed SSP, Anantnag, to replace Manhas. Elsewhere, at least three persons, including two militants, were killed and another injured in separate incidents in Kashmir valley since yesterday.
Two militants of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, identified as Abu Saquib Taizab from Pakistan and Javed Mir of Shopian area were killed in an encounter with security forces in Pulwama district yesterday.
An
unidentified person was critically injured when suspected militants fired upon him at Parraypora Makhama in Budgam district today. The police recovered the body of Mohammad Abdullah Bund of Awantipora, Pulwama district, from a Santro car in Chadoora area of Budgam district.
