Srinagar, June 21
At least five Amarnath pilgrims from Rajasthan were injured in a grenade blast at Ganderbal on the Srinagar-Baltal yatra route this afternoon.
The police said militants hurled a hand grenade towards a bus (RJ19P-5367) carrying pilgrims from Baltal to Srinagar at 12.30 p.m.
Five pilgrims, returning after darshan of Shiv lingam, were injured in the blast.
The injured were hospitalised with minor splinter wounds. Three injured were identified as Vasu, Mukesh and Mahandroo Soni.
An eyewitness, who was also travelling in the same bus, said two buses carrying pilgrims were on way to Srinagar from Baltal, when a hand grenade was lobbed inside the bus. The grenade exploded near the entrance. He said the driver of the bus took the injured to the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences at Soura.
Meanwhile, a top commander of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) was killed by the security forces in North Kashmir last night, official sources said today.
They said the security forces and the police, on a tip-off, conducted a search operation at Tathakund Qazigund village in South Kashmir late last night.
However, an HM spokesman, confirming the death of Farooq, alleged he was arrested and later killed in custody by the police.
He said Farooq had crossed over to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) in early 1990 and remained there for nine years.
