An injured man is carried on a stretcher at the Government Medical College hospital in Jammu and Kashmir after a grenade attack at a bus stop. Photo by Jaipal Singh/EPA-EFE

March 8 (UPI) -- Authorities have arrested a 15-year-old boy who said he was paid by a terrorist group to launch the grenade attack at a bus stop in Jammu and Kashmir this week that killed two people.

The grenade attack occurred Thursday in the disputed territory. The boy said he was paid by a member of the terror group Hizbul Mujahideen -- and that he hid the grenade in his lunchbox, investigators said Friday. Dozens were injured in the blast, at least three critically.


"Whenever there is a heightened state of alert, we strengthen checking and frisking but there is always a possibility of someone slipping through and this one seems to be a case like that," said Jammu police inspector general M.K. Sinha.

Authorities have also arrested a man by the name Muzammil after the boy identified him as a conspirator. Hizbul Mujahideen, one of the best-known Islamist separatist groups in India's Kashmir region, has denied it was involved in the bombing.

The grenade attack came a month after a separate bombing in the Jammu and Kashmir district of Pulwama that killed more than 40 people. Terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pakistan claimed responsibility for that strike.

Suspected terrorists also used grenades to attack a bus stop in December and a similar attack last May injured two police officers.

Tensions have been high between Pakistan and India in recent weeks. Wednesday, Pakistan shelled Jammu's Rajouri district.