10 injured in grenade attack in Indian Kashmir
Srinagar, India, Aug 10 (EFE).- At least 10 civilians were injured on Tuesday after alleged insurgents threw a grenade at security forces in Srinagar, Indian Kashmir’s main city.
“The grenade was targeted at a forces party,” a police official at Police Control Room (PCR), told EFE on condition of anonymity. “However it missed the target and exploded on the busy road injuring at least ten pedestrians”.
Officials from a nearby hospital confirmed that 10 civilians had been admitted with injuries from the impact of fragments of the explosion. They are in stable conditions, the sources added.
The explosion coincided with beefing up the security in the disputed region on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of India’s independence, which will be marked on 15 August.
It comes a day after a local leader of the Hindu nationalist BJP party – of prime minister Narendra Modi – and his wife were shot dead allegedly by insurgents in southern Kashmir.
These killings occurred three days after the second anniversary of the region’s loss of special status.
In August 2019, Modi’s government revoked the special status that allowed Indian Kashmir to have a semi-autonomous regime, flaring up tensions with Pakistan.
Back then, Modi said the decision would bring peace to the region that has suffered for three decades an armed rebellion seeking independence, labeled as a terrorist by New Delhi.
The uprising claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, most of them civilians.
India and Pakistan have fought two wars and numerous minor conflicts over Kashmir since independence from the British Empire in 1947. EFE
