SRINAGAR, Aug 7: A grenade thrown by suspected freedom fighters killed two Indian troops and injured six others on Thursday in the first attack in more than three months in occupied Kashmir’s capital, police said.

Five other people, including a father and son, were also killed in separate incidents in the restive region.

The grenade was thrown at a small truck carrying troops from India’s Border Security Force (BSF) in Lal Chowk, the main market in Srinagar. Two BSF troops were killed and six others injured, police said.

The truck caught fire after being hit by the grenade and firefighters struggled for more than 20 minutes to extinguish the flames.

Witnesses said all shops were shut down in Lal Chowk shortly after the blast at 12:50 pm (0720 GMT), with suspects being paraded in front of informants stationed in security vehicles.

Elsewhere on Thursday, four civilians were injured in a grenade explosion in the northern town of Baramulla, 55 kilometres northwest of Srinagar, police said.

The explosion was 500 metres away from a building where senior state minister Qazi Mohammed Afzal was present, but police said a security force picket was the main target.

Suspected rebels meanwhile killed Mohammed Akbar Gojri, 65, and his son Bashir Ahmed after abducting them from their home in the hilly Laam area, on the outskirts of Tral township, 40 kilometres south of Srinagar, police said.

Meanwhile Indian troops shot dead three Mujahideen on Thursday in different shoot-outs, one at Zakura, on the outskirts of Srinagar, police said.—AFP