M A I N   N E W S

Hizb militant killed, 4 cops hurt in Srinagar grenade attack
Majid Jahangir/TNS

Srinagar, July 17 
A Hizbul Mujahideen militant was killed and five persons, including four policemen escorting him to Baramulla jail, were injured in a grenade attack by suspected militants in Srinagar’s busy Batamaloo area here today.

A pedestrian was also injured in the attack on the police vehicle carrying Shakeel Ahmad Kasana, an undertrial and former personal guard of Hizbul Mujahideen chief commander Syed Salahuddin. Kasana was being taken from Panthachwok Police station to Baramulla jail in north Kashmir when militants lobbed a hand grenade on the vehicle around noon. The Hizbul Mujahideen militant, a resident of Kangan Ganderbal, was arrested by the police in Srinagar last year. 

A police party from the Srinagar District Police Line was escorting him to Baramulla jail when the attack took place.

The police said the grenade exploded inside the vehicle, critically injuring Kasana. “The grenade exploded and its splinters hit four policemen and an undertrial,” said a police officer. A civilian, Ghulam Nabi of Budgam, who was passing through the area, was also injured. All the injured were rushed to hospital where Kasana succumbed to his injuries. 

Deputy Inspector General of Police, Central Kashmir, Ahfad-ul-Mujtaba said the attack was carried out by militants randomly. “It was a random attack on a police vehicle. 

Incidentally, the undertrial prisoner was inside it,” Mujtaba said. Kasana had exfiltrated to Pakistan in early 2000 where he remained Hizbul Mujahideen chief commander Syed Salahuddin’s personal guard for a few years, he said. “He infiltrated last year and was arrested in Srinagar,” Mujtaba added. 

The HC had recently quashed Kasana's detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA) and he was being taken to Baramulla jail to be lodged under a new PSA. A police party from the Srinagar District Police Line was escorting him to Baramulla jail when the attack took place. The attack created panic in the Batamaloo area and pedestrians were seen fleeing the area. Police and paramilitary troopers rushed to the area to trace the persons involved in the grenade attack

Police van targeted

* A grenade was lobbed by suspected militants on a police vehicle taking Hizbul Mujahideen militant Shakeel Ahmad Kasana to Baramulla jail

* The grenade exploded inside the vehicle, injuring 4 policeman escorting Kasana, who later succumbed at a hospital, and a pedestrian

* Kasana exfiltrated to Pakistan in early 2000 where he remained Hizbul chief commander Syed Salahuddin’s personal guard for a few years

* He infiltrated last year and was arrested in Srinagar
Policemen at the grenade attack site in Batamaloo, Srinagar, on Wednesday. Six persons were injured in the attack. Tribune photo: Amin War