Srinagar, November 10
Three teenaged girls and two boys were killed and at least 35 injured in a grenade explosion near a mosque in Tahab village of Pulwama district, 35 km south of here, this afternoon.
The police here said four children were among the five persons killed and 35 injured in the grenade attack. According to a UNI report, at least persons were killed and 50 injured in the attack.
According to the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, South Kashmir range, Mr H.K. Lohia, five persons were killed and 26 injured, 14 of them seriously. Twelve others with minor injuries were discharged from the District Hospital, Pulwama, after first aid. Of the seriously injured, seven were shifted to Srinagar hospitals and seven were undergoing treatment at the District Hospital in Pulwama.
Those killed have been identified as Umar Maqbool Ganie
(13), Mohammed Maqbool Saleema Akhter (13), Bisma Bashir (10), Nissar Ahmed Ganie (22), and Sheeraza Akhter (17).
The explosion took place at about 1.20 pm when a number of boys and girls had converged on the mosque to attend a religious gathering called by the cleric, Moulvi Abdul Rashid Dawoodi. He was also injured in the explosion, reports said. The DIG Police said militants of the Hizbul Mujahideen were responsible for the attack. One militant, with code name Riyaz from Litter village in Pulwama, was responsible for the grenade attack, the police said.
However, no arrests have been made. The DIG dismissed as rumours the reports that local persons had caught hold of one person responsible for the attack.
A police spokesman told media persons here that around 1.30 pm, suspected Hizbul Mujahideen militants hurled a grenade towards Jamia Masjid Tahab, when a large number of people along with Moulvi Abdul Rashid Dawoodi were entering the mosque to offer Friday prayers. In this incident, five persons, including four minors, were killed and 35 persons, including Moulvi Abdul Rashid
Dawoodi, injured.
