Multiple grenade attacks rock Srinagar

SRINAGAR: Four blasts rocked Srinagar on Tuesday morning within a span of two hour from each other.

Terrorists lobbed a grenade at a local tourist bus at Dal Gate. Ultras hurled a grenade on a tempo traveller near Sultan Bakery in Dalgate Chowk around 11.50 AM, the sources said.

Five tourists from West Bengal, including three women, were killed and 12 others injured in a grenade attack by militants on their vehicle at Dal Gate, official sources said.

All the deceased, who included three women, were from Kolkata while nine of the injured were also from West Bengal. Two injured were local residents of Dal Gate while another person wounded was from Udhampur, they said.

Top police and security officials including Inspector General of Police, Kashmir S M Sahai immediately rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation.

The ten injured, including those seriously wounded, were rushed to the SMHS hospital for treatment, they said.

"I saw a huge orange flash coming out of the bus with a loud explosion," Shabir Ahmad, a shopkeeper who witnessed the attack on the bus near the famous Dal Lake, told an agency.

Another grenade blast shook Residency Road in the city within an hour of the earlier blast injuring at least two persons, including a CRPF jawan. The third blast was reported near clock tower in Lal Chowk in the city. Fifteen minutes later a fourth blast occurred in Abi Guzar area. The fifth grenade attack occurred in Batmaloo area.

A sixth blast took place near a tourist reception centre.

"It is an unfortunate incident. Terrorists are trying to hit the tourism business," says PDP President Mehbooba Mufti

Authorities feared that the bus attacked at Dal Gate might have been carrying Amarnath pilgrims. No militant group has claimed responsibility for the blasts yet.

The number of casualty is expected to rise.Security has been beefed up in the entire region after the attacks. This is the sixth attack on tourists in Kashmir valley since the beginning of the tourist season this year.