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Twin blasts target Farooq rallies, 17 hurt
Azhar Qadri
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, April 27
Twin explosions within minutes of each other targeted election rallies of Union Minister and ruling National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah in Kashmir on Sunday and left 17 persons wounded.

Militant outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the attacks that sent Farooq’s security grid into a tizzy and revealed a fresh threat perception to electioneering in central Kashmir ahead of Wednesday’s vote.

“We received 17 injured persons, including some women. We shifted them to a Srinagar hospital after first-aid at the Magam Sub-District Hospital,” Block Medical Officer Dr Khalid Rashid said after the second blast. The first blast took place around 11.25 am in the old city’s Khanyar locality near the venue of a rally being addressed by Farooq, along with several senior party leaders and a state Cabinet minister. Though senior police officers were tight-lipped about the nature of the explosion, security forces personnel securing the inner perimeter of the rally site confirmed a grenade explosion. No one was reported injured.

A police spokesman confirmed that the “sound of an explosion” was heard in the area. “The police are investigating the matter as to what caused the sound of the explosion,” the spokesman said.

Several CRPF personnel securing the rally site said the blast was caused by a hand-grenade. “Someone first pelted two stones into the ground, and then came the grenade,” a paramilitary soldier told The Tribune. There were also telltale signs at the spot where splinters had pockmarked a nearby wall.

The grenade exploded on the periphery of the school ground where the rally was underway. The loud bang caused a brief disruption as supporters present there tried to escape from the walled school premises and security personnel went into a heightened alert.

For a brief moment, the security grid mulled evacuating Farooq, but decided against it as the situation was brought under control and more security personnel were dispersed to secure the venue periphery.

The second explosion took place at Budgam’s Magam town, 25 km from Srinagar, around 11.50 am. Farooq was scheduled to address a rally there in the afternoon. Though the police said three persons were injured, a senior health official put the number at 17.

Confirming the explosion at Magam, the police said it was investigating the nature of the blast.

Meanwhile, Farooq Abdullah said he was not scared by the blasts. “Even if they fire a thousand grenades, Farooq Abdullah is not scared.”

Hizb posters warn voters

• Hizb-ul-Mujahideen posters carrying a threatening message for voters have been found pasted on walls in a locality in the Srinagar old city. Complete with the militant outfit’s logo and seal, the posters read: “We are giving a last warning to these people that they should not compel us to shoot bullets.”

No blast, tweets Omar

• J-K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said “violent forces” will not be allowed to succeed in derailing the electoral process even as he denied a blast took place at his father's rally.
• “There was no blast at the venue of Dr Abdullah's election rally in Srinagar. There was a sound that was heard in the distance,” Omar, also the National Conference working president, tweeted after a loud explosion briefly disrupted the rally in Khanyar area.
• “What's the point of issuing a poll boycott call if you can't terrorise people into obeying it,” the CM said.