An injured being shifted to the hospital

SRINAGAR: At least three civilians including a woman were killed and 30 others injured when suspected Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists attacked the cavalcade of roads & buildings minister Naeem Akhtar in Tral, 32 km south of Srinagar on Thursday morning.

Pakistan-sponsored terror groups in Kashmir have intensified their attacks against the PDP ever since it forged an alliance with the BJP to form the government in the state. Several PDP leaders and members have been targeted in the last three years.

Akhtar, one of the closest aides of chief minister Mehbooba Mufti , had gone to Tral for inauguration of a civil works project in the town. Tral is the home town of former Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani , who was killed in an encounter with security forces last year in July, which resulted in massive protests and violence for over four months, leaving over 80 people dead and hundreds injured.

PDP MLA of Tral Mushtaq Ahmad Shah, who was traveling in one of the cars, said the terrorists attacked the motorcade with a hand grenade and gunfire from automatic rifles. “The minister escaped unhurt but my bullet–proof car received several gunshots,” Shah said.

DG police S P Vaid said, the target of the attack was the minister. The assailants, he said, managed to escape in the melee caused by the grenade attack.

Ten critically injured people, besides the officials who were accompanying the minister, were taken to Srinagar hospital, block medical officer of Tral said. The slain civilians were identified as Pinky Kaur (a Sikh woman student of Islamic University), 80-year-old Ghulam Nabi Trag and Mohammad Iqbal Khan. Tral has a substantial Sikh population.

Police said nearly 18 pedestrians including many officials were injured in the grenade attack. Six persons who sustained injuries due to grenade splinters including a woman and an engineer were shifted to SMHS in Srinagar.

Soon after the attack, local youth came to the streets raising pro-Azadi and pro-Pakistan slogans and pelted stones on the security forces deployed in the town for the minister’s security. To disperse the agitating mob, security forces used tear gas shells, police claimed. More than two dozen people including one police constable sustained pellet injuries, according to BMO of Tral sub-district hospital.

However, police in a statement, denied the use of pellet guns.

R&B minister Naeem Akhtar, who is known to share a good rapport with separatists, criticized the attackers, “These people (terrorists) are importing hand grenades and using on their own people. What crime had these pedestrians committed that they were killed?” He pointed out that he was there because the government has undertaken civil works worth Rs 100 cr in Tral.

Terror outfits Hizbul Mujhadeen and Lashkar-e-Taiba condemned the terror attack and blamed the “Indian agencies” for it. Police officials said terror groups in Kashmir always deny responsibility when their terror attacks cause only civilian deaths.



In Video: Tral: 2 killed, 6 injured after terrorists lobbed grenade at a bus stand