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| India-Pakistan |
| 21 Killed In Kashmir Grenade Attack |
| 2006-05-31 |
| Srinagar, 31 May (AKI/Asian Age) - At least 21 tourists, most of them from West Bengal, were injured when terrorists tossed hand grenades into two coaches bringing them backfrom Kashmir's premier resort Gulmarg on Wednesday evening. The attack took place near the Dal Lake. There were a few women and children among the injured. Unofficial sources said the number of injured was 25, while the Press Trust of India said late Wednesday night that the number was 30. The attack was carried out by unidentified assailants at Dal Gate, Srinagar's bustling tourist district. Witnesses said that one of the coaches had just halted outside the hotel where the tourists travelling on it were staying. "Somebody dropped the bomb in the bus through a window, causing mayhem," said a Kashmiri who runs a handicrafts shop close to the hotel. For a while Abdur Rashid Mir and others present in the area ducked or hid themselves at what they considered were safe locations, but then rushed out to start rescue work. Joined by the police and members of Central Reserve Police Force from a nearby unit, they evacuated the injured to the hospital. "The leg of one of the victims had been blown off. Several others profusely bleeding started crying for help," shopkeeper Mir said. The second blast took place less than 100 metres away at an intersection, minutes after the first one. A moving tourist coach was the target, eyewitnesses said. No arrests have been made, so far, nor has anyone admitted responsibility for the blasts. Kashmir's indigenous militant movement Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and two other groups, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Al-Mansoorin, condemned the blasts, terming them "heinous" and aimed at "defaming the Kashmiri struggle for freedom." The incidents came a week after a grenade attack had killed three tourists, including two children, soon after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left Srinagar for New Delhi after attending the second roundtable on Kashmir. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #1 Lions of Islam!™ |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-05-31 18:06 |