2 killed in grenade attack, Jammu and Kashmir minister escapes unhurt

SRINAGAR: Militants hurled a grenade at a senior Jammu and Kashmir minister's cavalcade in Tral today, killing two civilians and injuring six people, including two policemen, police said.

Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Public Works Akhtar, who was on a tour of Tral, escaped unhurt in the attack.

"The grenade was reportedly hurled at 11.45 am," a police official said.


He said two people -- Ghulam Nabi Trag (56) and 17-year- old Pinky Kour -- were killed, while six others including two policemen were injured in the blast.

After the attack, the minister said, "I am unhurt myself but I am very sad because this claimed two lives...I feel very sad for them."

A driver was "very critically injured", he said, adding that he was being airlifted to Srinagar.

"I am profoundly shocked that they chose to target us when we were trying to speed up development of Tral constituency," he said.

The attack was an attempt to "subvert our outreach programme and our programme to take governance to the people", he said.